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William Shakespeare 
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SHAKESPEARE’S 

THE MERCHANT 


OF VENICE 




EDITED BY 

PAULINE W. LEONARD 

FORMERLY LIBRARIAN OF WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITY 





D. C. HEATH AND COMPANY 

NEW YORK CHICAGO 

SAN FRANCISCO DALLAS 

LONDON 


BOSTON 

ATLANTA 


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ytoPYRIGHT 1931 
By Pauline W. Leonard 



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NO PART OF THE MATERIAL COVERED BY THIS 
COPYRIGHT MAY BE REPRODUCED IN ANY FORM 
WITHOUT WRITTEN PERMISSION OF THE PUBLISHER 


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©CIA 3450T 0 



Printed in the United States of America 


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PREFACE 


The importance of the study of Shakespeare in the 
schools has been increasing during the last few dec¬ 
ades. Our educational scheme, tending to throw less 
and less emphasis on the classics, has made it the 
more necessary for young people to learn to know 
well some English writer of the first rank who can 
furnish them with a standard with which to compare 
the literature of their own day. Fortunately in 
Shakespeare they can find an Englishman whose 
virile grasp of the facts of life and robust frankness of 
expression make him peculiarly congenial to twen¬ 
tieth-century youth. Among his plays none is more 
certain to interest and appeal than The Merchant of 
Venice , with its strongly contrasted characters, its 
powerfully dramatic situations, and its vivid pictures 
of the luxury and splendor of the life of the Incom¬ 
parable City. 

We must agree with Shakespeare himself that “the 
play’s the thing.” In this edition, therefore, the Intro¬ 
duction and Notes are designed particularly to help 
the students appreciate its three outstanding dramatic 
features: skilful management of a difficult and com¬ 
plicated plot, variety and excellence in character 
drawing, and an effective use of local color, which 
gives it great beauty of setting and is not common in 
Elizabethan drama. 

Special emphasis is here laid on the setting for 
much the same reason that the guide books provide 
information concerning a city for those who are 


IV 


PREFACE 


about to visit it. Students cannot properly appreciate 
this play without its picturesque and luxurious Vene¬ 
tian background, and certainly an adequate under¬ 
standing of the Elizabethans’ point of view is difficult 
without some knowledge of Renaissance Italy to 
which they owed so much. Venice is particularly 
important to know about for it stood then in the eyes 
of the world for luxury and culture as Paris later 
came to stand for gaiety and fashion. The idea has 
been to give students so far as possible the back¬ 
ground and point of view of Shakespeare and the 
people of his day, a preparation which makes the 
play and its characters incomparably more delightful 
and comprehensible. It need hardly be said that 
this preparatory material should be read before the 
play is begun, for nothing is more ill advised than to 
stop a class in the midst of a dramatic situation to 
discuss even the most important point of history or 
language. 

No formal character sketches are given. This is 
work that can most profitably be done by the students 
themselves with the aid of the information and sug¬ 
gestions scattered through the Introduction. The 
reassembling of this material, using it in connection 
with the ideas and opinions they have formed in 
reading the play, will fix the facts in their minds 
better than any other exercise that could be devised. 
It will give them above all a desirable opportunity 
for personal expression. 

The teacher will find the summary of the plot in 
the Appendix a convenient outline into which the 
class can fit the different scenes of an act with an 
intelligent appreciation of what each has added to 
the general scheme. In this way the class will get 
not only a better understanding of the movement of 


PREFACE 


v 


the drama, but also an acquaintance with problems 
of dramatic construction which is of great value in 
itself. Wherever possible the more important episodes 
have been emphasized in the Notes by an account 
of how an eminent actor has handled them, and 
scenes photographed from stage productions are 
given among the illustrations to help the students 
realize that this is an acting play, still effective on 
the stage. 

Necessary language helps and the more important 
facts concerning the structure of the verse are given 
both in the Introduction and in the Notes at the bot¬ 
tom of the page. They may be read at a glance. 
But to help students enjoy Shakespeare’s poetry, of 
which this play is so full, nothing can take the place 
of the spoken word. Best of all is seeing the play well 
acted. Next to that come readings and recitations 
by a good reader — preferably, for freshness of im¬ 
pression, someone outside the class. After that let 
the class see what they can do, both in acting and 
recitation. Suggestions as to scenes suitable for acting 
may be found in the Appendix and also a collection of 
passages especially worth memorizing. The ques¬ 
tions, both on the chapters of the Introduction and on 
the play itself, have been carefully prepared to cover 
the ground adequately and include all the material 
called for by the college entrance examinations for 
several years past. 

Shakespeare’s life and theater have already been 
treated by the editor in the Introduction to A Mid¬ 
summer Night's Dream (Golden Key edition). If this 
is not available, they may be looked up in any his¬ 
tory of English dramatic literature or good encyclo¬ 
pedia. 

For the details of Venetian life the editor wishes to 


VI 


PREFACE 


acknowledge her great indebtedness to the work of 
Charles E. Yriarte: La vie cL’un patricien de Venise au 
seizieme siecle; to P. G. Molmenti: La Storia di 
Venezia dalle Origini alia Caduta della Republica; and 
to W. R. Thayer: Story of Venice. 


CONTENTS 


INTRODUCTION 

CHAPTER PAGE 

I. The Setting: Venice in the Six¬ 
teenth Century . ix 

II. The Education of a Venetian . . . xix 

III. Merchants of Venice .xxiv 

IV. Portia and the Women of Venice . xxxi 

V. The Jews in the Time of Shake¬ 
speare . xl 

VI. The Plot and Its Sources .xlviii 

VII. The Verse and Language of The 

Merchant of Venice . lvi 

VIII. The Merchant of Venice on the Stage . lxi 

THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. I 

APPENDIX 

Summary of the Play by Acts.105 

Suggestions for Dramatic Presentation . 107 

Memorable Passages .108 

Questions for Class Discussion.113 

Books of Special Interest.118 


vii 












ILLUSTRATIONS 


PAGE 

William Shakespeare. Frontispiece 

The Ducal Palace — Venice .xiii 

The Rialto .xvii 

I URGE THIS CHILDHOOD PROOF. 7 

HOW LIKE A FAWNING PUBLICAN HE LOOKS! . . 17 

Signior Antonio . . . you have rated me . 19 

Why, I am sure.49 

Away, then! I am lock’d in one of them . 55 

Now HE GOES .. 56 

Ere I ope his letter, I pray you. 63 

Most learned judge! A sentence!.87 


Vlll 











INTRODUCTION 


CHAPTER I 

THE SETTING: VENICE IN THE 
SIXTEENTH CENTURY 

I N Shakespeare’s time Venice was well known in 
London. He himself tells us in As Ton Like It 
that when a person said he had never “swam in 
a gondola,” it was equivalent to saying that he had 
not traveled; and every returned traveler spoke of 
the Incomparable City with such enthusiastic admira¬ 
tion that her canals, her wonderful architecture, the 
gaiety and luxury of her people, the fame of her 
university at Padua, and the beauty of her paintings 
and music were familiar to cultured Englishmen 
whether they had been there or not. If a dramatist 
chose to locate his play in Venice, he could call on 
the imagination of his audience to set the bare 
Elizabethan stage 1 with a lovely and colorful back¬ 
ground of Venetian scenes; and fortunately, when 
Shakespeare wrote The Merchant of Venice , he could 
be sure that the spectators would also have a good 
idea of the people and their ways of living. It will 
be well worth our while, before we begin to read the 


1 Students not familiar with the life of Shakespeare and the 
stage for which he wrote should consult the Introduction to A 
Midsummer Night's Dream (Golden Key edition), or any history 
of English dramatic literature. See “Books of Special Interest,” 

p. 118 . 


IX 



X 


THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 


play, to put ourselves, so far as we can, in the position 
of these Elizabethan playgoers, and make an effort 
to realize what Venice stood for in sixteenth-century 
Europe. 

There was glamour in the mere fact that it was an 
Italian city. Three hundred years ago Italy repre¬ 
sented the highest culture, the greatest refinement 
and elegance to be found in European life. It was 
there that the Renaissance reached its greatest glory; 
and young Englishmen went to the courts of Italian 
princes as to a sort of finishing school, where they 
might polish their manners, learn to write sonnets 
after the fashion of Petrarch, and acquire the stamp 
of a cosmopolitan culture. They enrolled themselves 
in Italian universities, too, in order to get a final 
intellectual polish, much as our ambitious students 
like to go to Germany, to Oxford or Cambridge, or 
to the Sorbonne. When Shakespeare wrote: “Home¬ 
keeping youth have ever homely wits,” he doubtless 
had particularly in mind the advantages of Italian 
travel and study. 

And most alluring of Italian cities to the traveler of 
that day was Venice, then at the height of her wealth 
and power, rising in dazzling beauty and romantic 
charm, like Venus, from the sea; preeminent in com¬ 
merce, independent of emperor, king, or even pope, 
and luxurious almost beyond the power of our imagi¬ 
nations to conceive. 

The very origin of Venice appeals to the imagina¬ 
tion. In those dim ages when tribes of barbarians, 
one after another, overran Venetia on the way to 
Rome, small bands of refugees, bolder than the aver- 
age, took their families out to a group of barren, 
shifting sand islets at the head of the Adriatic and 
built their homes there, knowing that if their lives 


INTRODUCTION 


xi 


must be hard in such a place and full of dangers 
from the sea, they could at least be independent and 
free from their enemies. These poor but unconquered 
refugees were the founders of Venice. Little by little 
their descendants built up a trade with the main 
land, or Terra Firma, as they called it, — first in 
fish, then in salt, and gradually in their own growing 
manufactures and the products of the Near East. 
And so at last the poor settlement grew into a great 
city, which by the sixteenth century was carrying 
in her galleys and argosies the bulk of the trade be¬ 
tween Europe and the Orient. For many centuries 
she was absolute mistress of the seas and one of the 
most powerful states of Europe. 

As their wealth grew, the Venetians spent it lavishly 
in beautifying their strange city of the sea. They 
drove piles into the ooze and built on them palaces 
faced with marble, pillared, balconied, and carved 
in lovely patterns, often inlaid with colored mosaics 
and adorned even on the outside with paintings by 
famous artists. Here and there, in gardens behind 
protecting sea walls, flowers grew luxuriantly in earth 
brought by galleys from far distant ports. Between 
. the rows of palaces, warehouses, and the like, the 
sea flowed in, and gondolas, barges, even galleys, 
passed back and forth. In Shakespeare’s time Venice 
was the chief port and the gayest city in Europe, with 
half a million inhabitants, nearly five hundred 
bridges, and two hundred churches; and there were 
ten thousand gondolas, which made a water pageant 
even of her everyday life. 

The climate was so mild that the people passed 
much of their lives out of doors, on the canals, and 
in the public squares. The Piazza 1 (Place) of St. 


1 Pe-at'-za. 



Xll 


THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 


Mark was the principal meeting place of all classes. 
Here one might see people of every nation and color; 
and the sunlight reflected from gold, jewels, silks, 
and oriental stuffs fairly dazzled the eyes of visitors 
from more somber northern lands. 

On one side of the Piazza stood the great church 
of San Marco (St. Mark), with gilded domes and 
mosaic front in the Byzantine fashion, glowing with 
color, which, says Ruskin, is “the most subtle, 
variable, inexpressible colour in the world, — the 
colour of glass, of transparent alabaster, of polished 
marble, and lustrous gold.” 

Beside it stood the Doges’ Palace, which has been 
called the loveliest building in Italy. It was burned 
five times, and each time it was rebuilt it rose more 
glorious than before. In its final form, as we see it 
now, it surrounds a richly decorated court, and the 
walls of the two facades which face the Piazzetta 1 
and the sea are supported by two tiers of Gothic 
arcades, one above the other. The capitals of the 
columns and the pointed arches between are carved 
in elaborate designs: “sculptures fantastic and in¬ 
volved, of palm-leaves and lilies and grapes and 
pomegranates, and birds clinging and fluttering 
among the branches.” Ruskin has described these 
capitals in detail in his Stones of Venice; but no descrip¬ 
tion can do justice to the palace as a whole, which 
Taine has called “a magnificent diamond in a 
brilliant setting.” 

Almost as wonderful as the Doges’ Palace itself, 
the palaces of the great Venetian families rose out 
of the sea along the Grand Canal, “the most beautiful 
street in the world.” They were reached by steps 
built down to the water at the level of low tide, and 


1 Pe-at-zet'-ta. 



The Ducal Palace — Venice 





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XIV 


THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 


flanked by posts to which gondolas are still tied. On 
holidays, processions of gondolas and great floats, 
filled with crowds dancing and singing, hung with 
stuffs from Persia and Arabia, and garlanded with 
juniper and oranges, moved up and down the Canal, 
between palaces gay with banners and tapestries; 
and so frequent were the holidays that it sometimes 
seemed to visiting strangers that life in Venice was 
one festival after another. 

The great Venetian painters — Carpaccio , 1 Bellini , 2 
Titian, Tintoretto, Paolo Veronese , 3 and many others 
— have left us pictures of the important events in 
the history of Venice, as well as portraits of her 
statesmen and beautiful women, from which we can 
reconstruct with extraordinary vividness much of the 
life of this remarkable city. The subjects of many of 
these paintings, to be sure, were taken from the lives 
of saints and from legends of other lands and times; 
but it is really the Venice of their own day the painters 
are depicting, its people and customs. In Carpaccio’s 
The English Prince takes Leave of his Father , we are 
evidently looking at a scene the painter himself had 
witnessed, probably the departure of some ambassador 
from Venice. The boats and the architecture are 
Venetian, and so are the costumes and gorgeous 
accompaniments. In Paolo Veronese’s splendid can¬ 
vases, scenes from Scripture and mythology are turned 
into grand pageants of Venetian glory, painted with 
telling masses of color, the rich textures of satins 
and velvets in which he delighted, and all the sumptu¬ 
ous settings of the pomp and luxury that filled the 
life of Venice with beauty during this latter half of 
the sixteenth century. His pictures give us scenes 


1 Car-pach'-i-o. 


2 Bel-le'-ni. 


3 Ver-o-na'-se. 



INTRODUCTION 


xv 


which, except for an occasional figure, might have 
been drawn from the lives of the characters in The 
Merchant of Venice. In his Family of Darius before 
Alexander , for instance, we are even shown one of the 
monkeys, then the favored pets of wealthy ladies, 
such as the one Jessica sold her mother’s ring to buy. 

We learn much also of the luxury and elegance of 
Venetian life from accounts of travelers, chronicles, 
and other materials of that kind. Charles E. Yriarte, 
in a biography of Marco Antonio Barbaro, typical 
Venetian of this period, has drawn from such sources 
a description of the wedding of a niece of one of the 
doges, which gives a most interesting and colorful 
picture of the patrician social life in which Portia 
herself must have joined. 

The Doge, we are told, “clothed in crimson velvet 
and surrounded by his councillors, received the bride¬ 
groom and his relatives in the Palace”; and the next 
day there was a ball, followed by supper, in the hall 
of the Pregadi. A fete in such an apartment must 
have been indeed a fairy spectacle, the torchlight 
shining on walls covered with gold and tapestries, 
lighting up a ceiling painted by one of the great 
masters, and reflected from the jewels of the guests 
and the gold plate and crystal on the banquet table. 

The banquet was served with extraordinary ele¬ 
gance. Little fountains, statues made of sugar, flower¬ 
ing plants, and dishes of sweetmeats decorated the 
tables; the candelabras were of gold and silver; 
the plates and cups were engraved and inlaid, and the 
glass was the finest product of Murano. From the 
branches of the chandeliers hung silver vases filled with 
fruits and flowers; peacocks were served as if alive, 
with tail spread; there were salads in the shapes 
of animals, castles, and the like; and for dessert, 


XVI 


THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 


iced cakes, Milanese pastry, grapes, and fresh straw¬ 
berries. During the banquet, the guests were enter¬ 
tained by singing, reading of poems, and dramatic 
performances. 

On the day of the wedding, a hundred ladies ac¬ 
companied the bride to the church of St. Mark, 
and at the head of the procession marched torch- 
bearers, trumpeters, and officers of the state. The 
church, and also the Piazza, were filled. After the wed¬ 
ding mass and a dinner in the Doges’ Palace, the 
bridal party went on board a great gilded barge and 
sailed down the Grand Canal, to the sound of music 
and the roar of artillery, to the house of the bride¬ 
groom, where, by the light of a hundred torches, the 
wedding ball was given. 

This was, of course, a semiofficial occasion. In 
everyday life the Venetians avoided formality and 
stiffness as much as possible. They had a passion 
for masquerading. Ladies carried masks along with 
fan and gloves; the Doge and all the magnificoes 
wore them at the opera or on any occasion when they 
did not care to go in state; and at private functions, 
like Bassanio’s supper party, some of the guests often 
came in masks, marching through the streets with 
fife and drum and gay laughter, to entertain the rest 
of the company with music or a dramatic skit. It 
was this custom which gave Lorenzo an opportunity 
to steal Jessica in disguise away from her father’s 
house; and the street music which Shylock bade her 
close the casement to shut out is a good bit of local 
color. 

The main thoroughfares of Venice were the canals; 
but many narrow streets ran from one canal to an¬ 
other, across the islands on which the city was built, 
and the houses along these streets were the homes of 


Canaletto © Rudolf Lesch, N .Y.C. 

The Rialto 



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xviii THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 

the common people. Shylock’s house is believed to 
have been on a street not far from the Rialto, the 
island on which the Exchange was located. The 
famous Rialto 1 bridge which led to this island over 
the Grand Canal had been built only a short time 
before Shakespeare wrote The Merchant of Venice , and 
it was then, as it still is, one of the sights of the 
city. 

Among the other sights shown to strangers — in¬ 
teresting to us because they meant so much to the 
prosperity and power of Venice — were the glass 
works of Murano, where glass was blown of so fine a 
quality that it was said a drop of poison would shatter 
it; and the Arsenal, where there seemed to be “all 
the munitions in the world to arm the galleys,” and 
where sixteen thousand men were constantly em¬ 
ployed building ships. They built them on standard 
patterns, making the different parts separately and 
then assembling them, much after the fashion of the 
modern automobile manufacturers; and so efficient 
was the organization of these builders that on one 
occasion, to impress a visiting royalty, they turned 
out an entire galley in three hours. 

This same efficiency and intelligence marked all the 
business affairs of Venice, and the result was a stand¬ 
ard of living far higher, even for the poorest classes, 
than in any other city in Europe. One visitor writes: 
“Merchandise flows through this noble city like the 
water of the fountains”; and strangers were always 
astonished at the abundance of food, the number of 
bakers, venders of cheese, poultry, fish, and fine wines. 
The gaiety of Venice was no mere froth on the sur¬ 
face of the city life, with misery underneath, like the 


1 Re-al-to. 



INTRODUCTION 


xix 


gaiety of Paris before the Revolution. It had a solid 
foundation in the contentment and well-being of all 
the people — the result of good government, and suc¬ 
cessful trade. 

Questions 

i. What brought travelers from all parts of the world to 
Venice? Give a quotation from Shakespeare indicating that he 
thought no person well-traveled unless he had seen Venice. 
2. Tell something about the early beginnings of the city, showing 
how its geographical position was favorable to its growth as a 
sea power. 3. How does the location of Venice differ from that 
of the cities you know? 4. Give figures showing its size and im¬ 
portance in Shakespeare’s time. 5. What do you know of the 
Piazza San Marco, the Rialto, the Grand Canal, St. Mark, and 
the Doges’ Palace? 6. Who was John Ruskin, quoted in the 
text, and why was he qualified to speak with authority on the 
beauties of these buildings? 7. What do you know of the Vene¬ 
tians’ fondness for masquerades? 8. By a description of a state 
wedding show the luxury and splendor of the Venetian social 
life in which Portia had a part. 9. What was the probable loca¬ 
tion of Shylock’s house? 10. Describe the situation of the houses 
of the wealthy Venetians, the beauty of their exteriors and the 
water fetes for which they made so fine a setting. 11. Give some 
evidence of the efficiency and practical intelligence of the Vene¬ 
tians in business affairs. 


CHAPTER II 

THE EDUCATION OF A VENETIAN 

I T is always interesting to learn something of the 
school days of the people we meet, either in books 
or in real life, and the educational system of Venice 
was an important feature of the city life. 

As soon as a boy left the nursery, he was sent to a 
public school at Venice or Verona, where he studied 
the usual subjects taught at that time: mathematics, 
languages, literature, and a little science. The pre- 


XX 


THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 


paratory schools laid special emphasis on the classics, 
both Latin and Greek, as they did everywhere in 
Europe during the Renaissance. Since university 
lectures were commonly given in Latin, it was abso¬ 
lutely necessary for students to understand this lan¬ 
guage, and the quantities of manuscripts brought to 
Venice by refugees from Greece and by Levantine 
traders stimulated interest in Greek literature. The 
young patricians learned to speak as well as read this 
beautiful language in Greek schools found in every 
quarter of the city, and they became thoroughly fa¬ 
miliar with the old myths and legends. Artists repro¬ 
duced these myths in paintings and statues; they 
were used as subjects for plays and operas, and it was 
the fashion to refer to them at every turn of the con¬ 
versation. We find that even Jessica knew them so 
well, probably through translations, that she was able 
to cap classic allusions with Lorenzo as they strolled 
together in Portia’s garden. One of the ways by 
which Shylock is distinguished from the Venetians is 
that he is constantly quoting the Scriptures whereas 
they prefer allusions to Ovid, Virgil, and the Greek 
poets. 

Even in preparatory school a boy had distinguished 
men for teachers, capable of inspiring respect for the 
subjects they taught. His schoolmaster might have 
held almost any important position in the state, for 
no member of the Venetian oligarchy could refuse 
an office if the Senate appointed him to fill it. And 
when the student reached the University of Padua, 
the topmost round of the Venetian educational ladder, 
he had for professors the most illustrious scholars in 
Europe. Jurisprudence was taught with such dis¬ 
tinction that Padua came to furnish magistrates for 
all Italy. Matters of the most serious import were 


INTRODUCTION 


xxi 


referred to its professors of law, as we shall see in the 
case of Shylock versus Antonio, when the Doge seeks 
the opinion of the eminent Dr. Bellario. The sciences, 
also, received much attention. Sarpi, who, before 
Harvey, discovered the circulation of the blood, was 
a professor at Padua; anatomy was carried to a high 
point, chemistry was a specialty, and the Botanical 
Garden, still in existence, was famous. In Shake¬ 
speare’s time, Galileo held the chair of mathematics. 
His discoveries of the pendulum and the telescope 
were matters of common talk and interest, as the 
radio and the aeroplane are to-day; and in 1594, 
when Shakespeare was probably working on The 
Merchant of Venice , the Senate tripled Galileo’s salary 
in recognition of the honor he had brought to the 
university. , 

Not only scholars but also young men of fashion, 
princes, and literary men from other lands came to 
Padua. A brother of the king of England was 
mentioned as a student at the university, and young 
Lorenzo, embryo poet, may have written verses while 
sitting on the very bench where Tasso once sat writing 
his first poem. There were about eighteen thousand 
students at this time, crowded into a city much too 
small to hold them. Naturally they filled it with 
noise and disorder, leading even to bloody battles 
between the different schools; but, nevertheless, we 
read that the university was so illustrious that “the 
eyes of the world were turned to it as a center of 
light,” and a professorship there was one of the great 
offices of the state, highly honored and recompensed 
— much more highly, indeed, than at our universities 
to-day. Evidently the deference paid to the opinion 
of Dr. Bellario in the Trial Scene and the respect 
accorded to Portia as his distinguished pupil, the 


XXII 


THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 


amount of the fee offered her by Antonio, and the 
honor shown her by the Doge’s invitation to supper, 
were quite in harmony with Venetian custom. 

After a period of study at Padua, the young patri¬ 
cians generally went in the train of ambassadors or 
in merchant ships to foreign countries, broadening 
their minds with new experiences and acquaintance 
with different customs, and perfecting themselves 
in modern languages. At twenty-five they took their 
seats in the Grand Council, which met every Sunday 
to decide affairs of state and included all citizens whose 
names appeared in the Golden Book , the complete 
record of the lineage of the patrician families. They 
were then eligible to various public offices; and, as 
this was the usual age for marriage, we may guess 
that it was about the age of Bassanio, Gratiano, and 
Lorenzo. 

Unlike so many of the young men of our day, the 
Venetians did not lose their interest in literature and 
the arts after their formal education was finished. 
The gay youth of the period revived classic comedies 
in their dramatic societies, wrote clever verses, and 
frequently enrolled as pupils in the studios of the 
masters of painting and sculpture. Wealthy mer¬ 
chants prided themselves on their libraries and their 
collections of illuminated manuscripts and of the 
beautiful Aldine editions which still remain as evi¬ 
dence of the high perfection to which the art of 
printing was carried in Venice. The richest and most 
distinguished patricians aspired to be professors at 
Padua or librarians of St. Mark; and great generals 
and statesmen found their recreation in enthusiastic 
study of literature and the sciences. They were often 
artists as well. We find that the diplomat who nego¬ 
tiated peace after the battle of Lepanto was a student 


INTRODUCTION 


xxm 


of sculpture, and that a head of the church decorated 
one of the ceilings of the Doges’ Palace. 

The methods of education of that day trained the 
young men to great practical efficiency and a versa¬ 
tility remarkable even in an age like the Renaissance, 
when an able man could turn his hands or brain to 
almost anything; and they also succeeded in inspiring 
the students with a lasting interest and pleasure in 
the things that give beauty and enduring joy to life. 
Rarely in the history of the world has hard, practical 
sense been so successfully united with a highly de¬ 
veloped culture as it was in these merchants of 
Venice. We are told that Bassanio was a soldier and 
a scholar, and we know that he was a man of many 
social graces. If later on he became also a successful 
merchant and distinguished statesman, we might 
regard him as a typical Venetian patrician. 

Questions 

i. Trace the steps in the education of a Venetian youth 
through the public schools and the university. 2. Locate Padua 
in relation to Venice. 3. What were some reasons for the em¬ 
phasis on Greek and Latin and what was the effect on tastes and 
conversation? 4. Discuss the University of Padua as a “center of 
light,” mentioning some of the most illustrious professors, and 
stating what achievements made them famous. 5. How many 
students were attending the university in Shakespeare’s day? 
6. What broadening experiences came to the wealthy Venetians 
after the university course? 7. Discuss and illustrate the “versa¬ 
tility” of the Venetians. 8. What was the Golden Book of Venice? 
9. What guess can we make as to the probable age of Bassanio, 
Gratiano, and Lorenzo? 10. What reference is made in this 
play to a professor at Padua? 11. Compare as well as you can a 
graduate of the University of Padua in Shakespeare’s time with a 
graduate of one of our universities. 


xxiv THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 

CHAPTER III 

MERCHANTS OF VENICE 

I T is commonly believed that men who have great 
success in business must win it at some sacrifice of 
the finer things of life; but Venetian history gives 
good evidence to the contrary. For Venice, without 
doubt the most romantically beautiful city of Renais¬ 
sance Europe, was preeminently a city of successful 
business men. 

Next to her safety, commerce was the chief concern 
of her citizens. There was, to be sure, a patrician 
class, and during the time of her greatest prosperity 
no one could vote or be elected to office unless his 
name appeared in the Golden Book. But these patri¬ 
cians themselves were merchants; they bought and 
sold on the Rialto, fitted out vessels and disposed of 
their cargoes, sailed their own ships and headed their 
caravans; and they were bound by close ties of busi¬ 
ness to the smaller merchants, the guildsmen and the 
seamen who made up the greater part of the popula¬ 
tion of the city. 

Coryat tells us that these merchants of Venice met 
on the Rialto, the Venetian exchange, “betwixt 
eleven and twelve of the clocke in the morning and 
betwixt five and six of the clocke in the evening.” 1 
There, together with foreigners of all nationalities, 
who were granted the full protection of Venetian law, 
and wealthy Jews like Shylock, who enjoyed in 
Venice greater toleration and opportunity than else¬ 
where in Europe, they founded a great commercial 
state. Proud to acknowledge that trade was the 


Coryat’s Crudities, 1611. 



INTRODUCTION 


XXV 


source of their wealth and power, they built war 
galleys to protect it; they planted colonies through¬ 
out the Near East to widen its compass; and as the 
years passed, they built up an empire in which the 
growing power of their splendid city was used pri¬ 
marily to further commerce. 

A large part of their wealth came from trade with 
the East, for which Venice was well situated. 
Throughout the Middle Ages and the Renaissance 
she served as the go-between for Europe and the 
Orient, and the story of her enterprises reads like a 
tale from the Arabian Nights. In Shakespeare’s day 
most of her merchandise, brought in vessels from 
Asia to Suez or Kosseir, was carried on camels to the 
Nile and from there by boat to Cairo or Alexandria, 
where it was loaded on Venetian vessels and taken to 
Venice. From Venice it was shipped to the western 
Mediterranean, to England or Flanders, or overland 
by caravan to Austria and Germany. All through 
this territory went the Venetian merchants; and for 
many centuries the Venetian ducat, like the Eng¬ 
lish pound sterling and the American dollar in later 
days, passed current as the standard coin of the 
world. 

According to Thayer, 1 the gold ducat was worth 
$2.25 in bullion, and its purchasing power was twelve 
to fifteen times the same amount now. It was un¬ 
doubtedly this gold coin which is referred to in 
Antonio’s bond, for the silver ducat, worth about a 
dollar, was not the standard recognized in commerce. 
This valuation makes Antonio’s transactions with 
Shy lock easier to understand. The three thousand 
ducats he borrowed were equal, possibly, to as much 


1 Thayer, W. R.: A Short History of Venice. 



XXVI 


THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 

as Sioo,ooo in our currency. He could not have got 
this amount from a bank, as a merchant with good 
credit could nowadays, for although the Bank of 
Venice issued notes, it did not lend out money to 
individuals at interest, a traffic permitted only to 
Jews. Naturally he would prefer to borrow so large 
a sum from the Jew, Shylock, making it a purely 
business transaction, rather than ask it as a favor 
from some friend or fellow Christian who would be 
forbidden by both law and public opinion to take 
interest on the loan. This prejudice against charging 
interest on money lent is one of the ideas of this 
period which we find hardest to understand; the 
feeling seems to have been that it was a monstrous 
thing, contrary to nature, for base metal to be made 
to breed like living beings, and no one with any posi¬ 
tion in the community was willing to engage in such a 
transaction. 

If we bear in mind the great wealth of the patrician 
merchants, we understand why both Antonio and 
Bassanio treat a $100,000 loan so lightly, and why 
Bassanio appears so insensible to his friend’s danger. 
From the personal interest the Doge and his coun¬ 
cillors take in Antonio’s fortunes it is evident that he 
was one of the merchant princes of Venice, of great 
importance in the state, and Shylock remarks that 
he has six ships at sea. These ships undoubtedly 
carried valuable cargoes. For instance, the usual 
cargo of spice at that time was worth about 35,000 
sequins, or ducats, and some were valued as high as 
200,000. They were fairly safe. Venetian ships 
rarely went far beyond the Mediterranean, war galleys 
were constantly on the watch for their enemies, and 
if they happened to be disabled, parts for refitting 
could always be found in some nearby port, where 


INTRODUCTION 


xxvii 


the government maintained warehouses for their bene¬ 
fit. It is true, of course, as Shylock said, that 

Ships be but boards, sailors but men. 

Still, the chance that all Antonio’s ships would be 
lost at once must have looked too remote to be seri¬ 
ously considered, and evidently Antonio himself had 
no doubt whatever that one or two ships at least 
would return before even two months were past and 
enable him to pay the three months’ bond in good 
season. It is hardly reasonable to blame Bassanio, 
as many critics have, for not worrying over a con¬ 
tingency which must have looked absurdly improbable. 

We might wonder, too, why he needed to borrow 
so large a sum as Si00,000 to fit himself out to pay 
court to a lady, especially since the lady’s “seat of 
Belmont” was not far away, requiring a long and 
expensive journey to reach it, but rather in what was 
practically a suburb of Venice. But when we con¬ 
sider the luxury and elegance of Venetian life, we 
realize that Bassanio was actually modest in his re¬ 
quirements. In that day gentlemen of noble family 
wore satin, velvet, and cloth of gold, magnificently 
laced and embroidered, as well as jewels of such value 
that a chain or even a ring might represent a fortune 
in itself. His attendants, also, had to be fitted out 
sumptuously to do honor to a lady of wealth and high 
rank, and he must present suitable gifts to the lady 
herself. Evidently he could not have met his rivals 
on equal terms with anything less than three thousand 
ducats. 

Bassanio belongs to the class of Shakespearian 
characters that cannot be understood without refer¬ 
ence to the period to which they belong. Creations 
such as Portia and Shylock are of all time. They 


xxviii THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 

stand out more clearly, to be sure, against the back¬ 
ground of their own time and place, but they are so 
universally human that they may be fairly well under¬ 
stood without much regard to their surroundings. 
Bassanio, however, will receive scant justice if we 
judge him by our own standards and fail to take 
into consideration the habits and ideas of the young 
Venetian gentlemen of his day. 

It shocks us that he should seek Portia so openly 
for her fortune, and that both he and Antonio take the 
situation as a matter of course. We wonder why 
Portia and Nerissa, so keen in judging the other 
suitors, fail to see through his mercenary wooing, and 
why all his acquaintances speak so well of him. But 
even apart from the mitigating circumstance that he 
was evidently in love with his heiress, we can find 
some excuse for him in the fact that the average young 
Venetian of the patrician class was by this time be¬ 
coming disinclined to work, finding it easier to enrich 
himself by winning one of the enormous dots , usually 
as much as fifteen thousand ducats, which it had be¬ 
come the custom for young girls of wealthy families 
to bring to their husbands on their marriage. Venice 
had now passed the peak of her glory, and the 
sterner virtues that had made her great had begun 
to break down under an excess of luxury. In fact we 
read in a decree of the Senate of about this time that 
“the youth no longer undertake commerce in the 
city or navigation or any praiseworthy industry, fix¬ 
ing all their hopes upon exorbitant marriage por¬ 
tions.” Evidently Bassanio was merely the child of 
his age — if no better, certainly no worse than the 
average in this respect; and his pursuit of Portia’s 
fortune did not make him unworthy of her love. 

In contrast to Bassanio, the character of Antonio 


INTRODUCTION 


xxix 


was evidently modeled on the Venetian patricians of 
the good old days, when they were active merchants 
as well as scholars, diplomats, and soldiers. We see 
in him the type of those merchant princes of Venice 
who were known and respected throughout Europe 
— honorable, kind, brave, and generous to a fault. 
Antonio’s generosity, indeed, was so unusual that 
Shakespeare takes pains to inform us that he is a 
bachelor so that we may not think him criminally 
prodigal, and Shylock hates him because he has 
spent so much of his fortune helping poor debtors 
out of the Jews’ clutches. His unselfish friendship 
with Bassanio is one of the high spots of the play. We 
cannot but admire, also, his unswerving devotion to 
the Venetian patrician’s creed: that the good of the 
state must always be held above any personal con¬ 
sideration. When his friends express the hope that 
the Doge will not allow Shylock actually to cut the 
pound of flesh, he replies: 

The Doge cannot deny the course of law: 

For the commodity that strangers have 
With us in Venice, if it be denied, 

Will much impeach the justice of the state. 

Not even to save his own life is he willing to bring 
discredit upon Venice. 

His melancholy at the beginning of the play seems 
to be intended merely to presage the evil that is 
about to fall upon him, to strike the keynote of the 
action — a dramatic device common in Shakespeare’s 
plays. We notice a similar expression in Portia’s 
first speech, and it furnishes an effective contrast to 
the irresponsible gaiety of the youth who make up the 
rest of Bassanio’s circle. 

Gratiano and Lorenzo are evidently young men 
of about Bassanio’s own age, not yet settled down to 


XXX 


THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 


a career, and able to set out for Belmont, Genoa, or 
anywhere else at a moment’s notice. Their position 
appears to be somewhat inferior to his, for they do 
not address him quite as an equal, and Gratiano 
feels himself suitably mated with Portia’s maid, or 
“waiting-gentlewoman.” They are by no means his 
dependents, however; they are guests at his supper 
party, and evidently go with him or not, as they like. 
Lorenzo, like Bassanio, marries money. It comes 
with a Jewish girl, of no social position in Venice at 
that time, but this does not seem to trouble him. He 
is the poet of the company, native to Bohemia rather 
than to Italy, and far more interested in Jessica’s 
beauty and the excitement of the elopement than in 
her father’s ducats. The special office of Salanio and 
Salarino, Antonio’s fellow merchants, in the play is 
to bear witness to the esteem and affection felt for 
Antonio by all who knew him and to show the scorn 
and hatred with which the Jewish usurers were uni¬ 
versally regarded. 

The other two men in the piece, the unsuccessful 
suitors, by their very foreignness give it the cosmo¬ 
politan atmosphere that distinguished Venice. The 
choice of their nationalities is exceedingly interesting. 
The Prince of Morocco, as an Arab and a Moslem, 
suggests the close relationship between Venice and 
the East; and Portia’s apparent respect and liking 
for him is evidence of the extraordinary tolerance, 
both religious and racial, characteristic of this mer¬ 
cantile city. We cannot easily imagine such a situa¬ 
tion elsewhere in Europe at this time. Dramatically, 
the Prince’s wooing is a gorgeously picturesque fea¬ 
ture; and an audience of Englishmen, who had so 
long hated and feared Spain, must have been de¬ 
lighted to see his rival, the Spanish grandee, Prince 


INTRODUCTION 


xxxi 


of Arragon, presented as a vain and boastful person, 
scorned by Portia, and decidedly inferior to a Moor. 
Shakespeare knew his audience well, as a successful 
dramatist must, and we often find him making use of 
such opportunities as this to play upon their affections 
and prejudices. 

Questions 

i. Explain the statement that Venice was a “commercial 
state,” and show how the position of Venetian merchant princes 
differed from that of the merchants of other countries. 2. When 
was the Exchange open for business? 3. How did the situation 
of Venice help her to build up a great trade? Give the steps in 
transporting merchandise from Asia to Venice and from there to 
other countries. 4. How much was a ducat worth? 5. How 
many ducats did Antonio borrow from Shylock, and what would 
be the equivalent in dollars? 6. Why did Antonio borrow from 
Shylock instead of getting the money from a bank? 7. Why did 
both Antonio and Bassanio treat this large sum so lightly? 
Discuss. 8. Why did Bassanio need so much money? 9. How 
was he typical of the young Venetian patricians of his day? 
1 o. Why does Shakespeare make Antonio a bachelor? 11. Why 
did Shylock hate him? 12. Why is he melancholy? 13. Show 
how he is typical of the merchant princes of Venice. 14. Sum 
up the relation of Gratiano, Lorenzo, Salarino, and Salanio to 
the major characters. 15. Why would an Elizabethan audience 
enjoy Portia’s scornful treatment of the Prince of Arragon? 
16. Give two reasons for Shakespeare’s choice of the Prince of 
Morocco as one of Portia’s suitors. 


CHAPTER IV 

PORTIA AND THE WOMEN OF 
VENICE 

T HE villa of Belmont was evidently on the Brenta 
River, between Venice and Padua, a beautiful 
country where wealthy Venetian families had their 
summer homes then as they have to-day. We know 


XXX11 


THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 


it was somewhere in this vicinity, for when Portia 
sets out to try Antonio’s case in the Ducal court, she 
bids her servant ride to Padua with a message for 
Dr. Bellario and then back to meet her at the “com¬ 
mon ferry which trades to Venice” while she drives 
along the highway more slowly in her heavy coach. 
This highway must have been the road from Padua 
to Venice which runs by the Brenta, and there is 
still a “common ferry” at Fusina, at the river’s mouth. 
Probably the villa was near Dolo, twenty miles from 
Venice on this Padua road, for Portia remarks to 
Nerissa that they have twenty miles to go that day. 

We get an excellent idea of such a sumptuous 
suburban residence as Belmont from the villa built 
for the Barbaro family in another suburb, which has 
been very skillfully restored. It stands on a hillside, 
and from the portico, which has Ionic columns like a 
Greek temple, there is a fine view of the country. 
The balcony of the loggia is decorated with figures 
in stucco, and the main hall, where the caskets prob¬ 
ably stood at Belmont, is elaborately frescoed. In 
the wings on either side were the living rooms of the 
family, with some of Paolo Veronese’s finest paintings 
on their walls and ceilings, and also bedrooms, very 
much like the one Carpaccio has painted in his series 
of frescoes on the life of St. Ursula. Indeed, St. 
Ursula’s chamber might well have been a picture of 
Portia’s own room. The detached chapel belonging 
to the villa is Ionic in style like the main building, 
so when Portia bids the Prince of Morocco “forward 
to the temple” where the candidates took an oath to 
observe the conditions of her father’s will, we may 
suppose she was speaking of her private chapel, pat¬ 
terned, like that of the Barbaro family, after a small 
Greek temple. 


INTRODUCTION xxxiii 

The Barbaro villa is set back from the highway, 
and the avenue leading to it is still bordered with 
cypresses and set with statues and fountains, marble 
vases full of flowers, and clumps of shrubbery, sweet 
with fragrant blooms. Beside such an avenue as this, 
beneath a sky “thick inlaid with patines of bright 
gold,” Lorenzo and Jessica sat and listened to the 
music which sounded so sweet in Portia’s ears on her 
return from her trying day in the court room. 

As she lived on the mainland, even though in 
territory which had belonged to Venice for more than 
a hundred years, Portia was not, either in training or 
character, a typical Venetian woman. Apparently 
she had been brought up and educated like the well¬ 
born girls of Florence, Este, 1 and the neighboring 
cities of northern Italy rather than like the women of 
Venice, who, from all accounts, were decidedly over¬ 
domestic and not intellectual. The educated Floren¬ 
tine girls, on the contrary, had much the same mental 
training as the boys; their minds were developed by 
serious study of the classics, which formed the founda¬ 
tion of all education during the Renaissance, and 
they took an intelligent and active part in public 
affairs. Clearly Portia was this kind of girl; and 
although Shakespeare probably did not mean to im¬ 
ply by her legal expositions in the Trial Scene that 
she had actually studied Venetian law, he evidently 
thought it would seem plausible to his audience that 
she could expound the law in the Ducal court, with 
some help from the learned counsel, Dr. Bellario, 
and hold her own against clever men. Such a feat 
would certainly require a brilliant mind and a solid 
foundation of education, but it would not have been 


1 Est'-e. 



xxxiv THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 

beyond the powers of the highly accomplished women 
of the North Italian courts, nor, indeed, of the English 
queen, Elizabeth. 

The accounts we have of one of these young women, 
Beatrice d’Este, are so suggestive of Portia’s character 
that they are worth examining for the side lights 
they throw upon it. They have been very cleverly 
pieced together by a late writer 1 to make a series of 
vivid pictures, the first one showing Beatrice and her 
friends, all in the guise of Turkish ladies, flocking 
about her husband, the Duke of Milan, whom she 
passionately loves. — “She has worked all night de¬ 
vising the dresses.” — Then suddenly she and her 
whole company rush away from him to play a prac¬ 
tical joke. — “Who would think she could make Latin 
orations, and listen as closely as the Duke, her hus¬ 
band, to ambassadors of intricate, maybe deadly, 
import?” -— But, remembering how Portia, immedi¬ 
ately after her brilliant defense of Antonio, played a 
merry joke upon her husband, getting away from him 
the ring he had sworn to her to keep, we are not so 
much surprised at the mischief of this wise and 
learned Beatrice. 

Again, in the evening, we see her “red as a rose with 
delight,” for soon she will be dancing, and the Duke 
“never looked princelier than in the suit of white 
Lyons velvet he is wearing.” All this sounds feminine 
enough, to be sure; but we read that next morning 
at the hunt, “like an Eastern bird on her great black 
horse, she rides straight as a man, they say.” How 
like Portia is this delightful mixture of masculine 
courage and feminine tenderness, of keen, straight 
thinking and mischievous gaiety, of a fine loyalty and 


* Taylor, Rachel A.: Leonardo the Florentine. 



INTRODUCTION 


xxxv 


a loving heart with the hint of coquetry and dash of 
malice which give her wit its tang and fascination! 

Evidently Shakespeare could find a model for the 
character of Portia easily enough among the famous 
women of northern Italy, such as Beatrice d’Este; 
but it is the ways and manners of the Venetian women, 
her neighbors in the villas along the Brenta River — 
those luxurious, beautiful, but rather soulless ladies 
we see in the paintings of Titian and Paolo Veronese, 
to which we must look for the little details of daily 
living that give form and body to the creations of a 
poet’s fancy. 

Women are not mentioned in the chronicles of 
Venice — good evidence that they took no part in 
public life; but we can learn much about them from 
paintings and engravings, comments of travelers, 
even such sources as sumptuary laws, and everything 
seems to indicate that, except when they went to the 
parish church a few doors away, they spent most of 
their time on their balconies or housetops, among 
their flowers and pets, or indoors in household affairs, 
making elaborate toilets, playing cards, which were 
first made in a Venetian factory, eating delicate 
collations enlivened by gossip, and practicing on the 
lyre or the clavichord. In some such way, doubt¬ 
less, Portia and Nerissa passed the long, bright days 
at Belmont, while they waited for the right suitor 
to come and choose the leaden casket. 

On great church festivals and public holidays, the 
patrician ladies went out with their escorts or their 
servants, teetering on absurdly high-heeled shoes, 
artfully made up, wearing fortunes in gold and pearls, 
and costly garments cut in the latest Paris fashions. 
We read that on Ascension Day, when the Doge, 
with splendid ceremonial, threw a gold ring into the 




xxxvi THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 

Adriatic in token of the wedding of the city with the 
sea, all the ladies walked through the Merceria, the 
principal shopping street, on their way home from 
the fete, to look in a certain shop window where a 
life-sized doll, dressed in the latest fashions fresh from 
Paris, was to be seen every year at this time. And it 
was not only the patrician women who took a deep 
interest in the Paris fashions. Many of the common¬ 
ers dressed so finely that, according to one visitor: 
“Every shoemakers or taylors wife will have a gowne 
of silke and one to carrie up her traine.” 

In all such matters of everyday life, Portia would 
naturally follow the customs of these Venetian ladies 
about her. Her villa was doubtless built and fur¬ 
nished like those of the patricians who had country 
houses near by; her clothes would be cut after the 
pattern of the doll’s on the Merceria; and we suspect 
that, like the other ladies in the neighborhood, she 
may have bleached her hair red-gold, the shade we 
see in Titian’s pictures. There is, of course, an oc¬ 
casional blonde among Italian women, but they are 
rare; and both from the paintings and from the 
comments of travelers it is clear that it was then the 
almost universal fashion for Venetian ladies to dye 
or bleach their hair that particular shade. There is 
still in existence a recipe for such a dye or bleach 
given to a lady by a celebrated physician of the day. 
They applied it with a little sponge on the end of a 
stick and then sat in the sun up on the roofs of their 
houses to dry it, wearing big circles of straw, like 
crownless hats, to save their complexions; and we 
may imagine that they gossiped and exchanged 
repartee as they sat there sunning themselves, much 
like Portia and Nerissa in their first scene. 

The fashions of dressing the hair, say the writers. 


INTRODUCTION 


xxxvn 


changed like the moon. Portia probably wore hers 
curled all around her face, the curls over her forehead 
arranged in two little horns. We learn from the play 
that Nerissa had left hers its natural black; perhaps 
she was not a sufficiently great lady to make it neces¬ 
sary for her to be in the height of the fashion; but 
she probably arranged it in the same way. 

The Venetian ladies understood well the art of 
make-up, and had all sorts of costly trifles on their 
dressing tables: brushes, little pots of creams, boxes of 
perfumes, and gold mirrors. Following the fashion 
of the day, Portia’s handkerchiefs, and even her shoes 
and gloves, would be trimmed with fine laces; her 
lingerie embroidered in gold, silver, and silks; her 
stockings of gold thread, thin as chiffon; her slippers 
decorated with roses of pearls; and the little coif 
she sometimes wore on her head, her rings and neck¬ 
laces, sparkled with jewels of great value. 

Outside their toilets, their pets, and their household 
cares, one of the chief interests of the Venetian ladies 
was music; and many paintings show them with 
musical instruments or listening to professional per¬ 
formers. The frequent occurrence of music in The 
Merchant of Venice , surrounding it with an atmosphere 
of beauty and harmony, was characteristically Vene¬ 
tian. Coryat, describing the celebration of one of 
the saints’ days, wrote that it “consisted principally 
of music, which was both vocal and instrumental, so 
good, so delectable, so rare, so admirable, so super- 
excellent that it did even ravish and stupify all those 
strangers who never heard the like.” Everywhere, 
from housetop and garden, from passing gondolas 
and the piazzas where the people gathered for their 
pleasures, tinkled the “touches of sweet harmony” 
which were part of the everyday life of Venice; and 


xxxviii THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 

many of the wealthy families employed musicians in 
their households for their own entertainment and for 
their guests, as Portia evidently did at Belmont. 

It was in Venice at about this time that music was 
added to theatrical performances, and the opera ap¬ 
peared — as a sort of lyric fantasy, elaborately set, 
depicting some allegory or classic myth. The women 
were very fond of these entertainments; and, unlike 
the fashionable women in England, who attended 
only private performances, the Venetian ladies went 
to the public theaters as well as to the opera. 

Amateur dramatics were popular, too; and both 
men and women took part in them. Probably Portia, 
and perhaps Nerissa also, had exercised their wits in 
ex tempore plays such as the Ortolani’s, in which men 
and women discussed problems of love: whether the 
lover of a noble lady should aim to excel in arms or 
in letters; whether physical beauty or beauty of soul 
was the more to be desired; or whether art or nature 
was to be valued the more highly. Certainly, after 
reading their discussion of the suitors in the second 
scene of this play, we can imagine both these girls 
taking a lively part in such finespun arguments. 
They were the fashion of the day in England as well 
as in Venice, and made an admirable exercise for 
nimble wits, playing a considerable part in developing 
keenness and self-confidence such as Portia shows so 
notably in the Trial Scene. 

We learn something, too, in The Merchant of Venice , 
of the religious devotion of the Venetian women, 
when Stephano describes how Portia spent the night 
after the trial, before she returned to Belmont: 

She doth stray about 

By holy crosses, where she kneels and prays 
For happy wedlock hours. 


INTRODUCTION 


xxxix 


There are still holy crosses along the roadsides in 
Italy, although, as Miss Martineau says: “The days 
are past when pilgrims of all ranks, from the queen 
to the beggar-maid, might be seen kneeling and pray¬ 
ing Tor happy wedlock hours,’ or for whatever else 
lay nearest their hearts.” But in Portia’s day such 
simple piety was still a part of the common life of 
Italy, and it gives her character an added grace and 
dignity. 

In these devotions and in all her occupations and 
amusements, Portia was accompanied by Nerissa, 
whose position is best described by the title of “wait¬ 
ing-gentlewoman” given to her in the early quarto 
editions of The Merchant of Venice. All the great 
households of the time had well-born men and women 
serving as personal attendants, who performed many 
offices that we should consider menial but were then 
regarded as highly honorable. Indeed, most of 
Shakespeare’s heroines, if they have no sister or cousin 
for a companion, find one in some gentlewoman of 
lower rank, like Nerissa, who is admitted to intimacy 
on much the same terms as a relative. 


Questions 

i. How are we able to locate Portia’s home? 2. Describe in 
detail the suburban villa of the Barbaro family, its appearance 
and arrangements, showing what we may learn from it in regard 
to the scenes of the play. 3. Does it seem likely that Portia was 
educated like most Venetian women of her day? 4. Characterize 
Beatrice d’Este, with particular reference to her versatility and 
her many interests and capabilities. 5. Why is the account of 
Beatrice given here? 6. How did the Venetian women spend 
their time? 7. What painter’s name is associated with the color 
of hair fashionable at the time? 8. Give a word picture of Portia’s 
toilet. 9. Explain how the prominence given to music in The 
Merchant of Venice is true to Venetian custom. 10. What diversion 


xl 


THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 


may have helped to sharpen Portia’s wits so that she could hold 
her own in the Court? 11. Repeat the lines which show the 
religious side of Portia’s nature. 12. How is it that Nerissa, who 
is not of Portia’s social standing, is her intimate and confidante? 


CHAPTER V 


THE JEWS IN THE TIME OF 
SHAKESPEARE 

HE MERCHANT OF VENICE was entered in 



JL the Stationers’ Register, July 22, 1598, as 
“otherwise called the Jewe of Venyce,” which seems 
to indicate that even in that day Shylock over¬ 
shadowed the other characters of the play. It was 
not, of course, a suitable title. The Jew appears in 
only five scenes, three of them short, and he is not 
present at all in the last act, whereas the part of 
Antonio, merchant of Venice, is essential to both 
the main plots and is brought into every act. But 
with a great actor in the role, Shylock is undoubt¬ 
edly the most interesting figure, and at the time the 
play was produced, anti-Jewish feeling was running 
so high in London that the baffling of the wicked 
usurer must have had a strong appeal to the English 
public. 

Jews had been forbidden to live in England since 
1290, but for some time those who professed Chris¬ 
tianity had been left .unmolested, and among them 
was a Dr. Lopez, the Queen’s physician. He was 
popular with the nobility, often staying at Kenilworth 
Castle, where Shakespeare’s company sometimes gave 
performances, and Shakespeare doubtless knew him. 
In *594 h e was mixed up in a plot to murder Don 
Antonio, a Spanish refugee much beloved in London. 


INTRODUCTION 


xii 

Later he was accused of attempting to poison Queen 
Elizabeth. Unfortunately for him, the two court 
favorites, Leicester and Essex, took sides for and 
against him, making the case a struggle for power. 
Essex won and Lopez was convicted. 

So far as we can learn now, the proof of his guilt 
seems to have been very slight. Indeed, the Queen, 
who was fond of her able doctor, for a long time re¬ 
fused to sign his death warrant. But pressure was 
brought to bear, excitement ran high, and she finally 
yielded. He was executed in June, 1594, before a jeer¬ 
ing, yelling crowd, and such feeling as was then aroused 
takes long to subside. There must have been a good 
deal of it left two or three years later when The Merchant 
of Venice was produced, and Shakespeare probably 
had Lopez in mind when he created the character of 
Shylock. In fact we are told that Richard Burbage, 
who played that role, patterned his beard after the 
Doctor’s. The name of Shylock’s victim, Antonio, 
also suggests some connection between him and Lopez. 

In order to understand the attitude of Antonio and 
his friends toward Shylock, we need to realize how 
intensely the Jews were scorned and hated during the 
Middle Ages and the Renaissance. Several causes 
united to produce this violent prejudice, and first, 
of course, came religious intolerance. The fact that 
the orthodox Jews caused the death of their Lord 
was sufficient to stir up the devout but intolerant 
Christian populace. It was regarded as a religious 
duty to hate and persecute their descendants; and 
such treatment, in a vicious circle, went far to accen¬ 
tuate in the Jews the very qualities for which they 
were despised. Moreover, being forbidden in many 
places to compete with Christians in trades or other 
reputable business, they naturally turned to money 


xlii THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 

lending, of which they had a monopoly; and this 
hateful trade, unregulated by law, was often carried 
on in such an oppressive manner that it still further 
irritated the popular feeling. Interest went up to 
fifteen per cent and sometimes even higher, and in 
case of forfeiture terrible penalties were exacted of 
the poor debtors. Strangely, as it seems to us, the 
people of that age thought it was a crime to take 
even moderate interest, and a poor man, stripped of 
all his substance by the usurers, naturally felt that 
the pound of flesh was no exaggerated symbol for the 
penalties exacted of him. It was, in fact, one of the 
most creditable acts of Lord Bacon as Chancellor, 
that he proposed limiting interest by law to five per 
cent. 

Hatred of the Jews led to all forms of persecution, 
and in many countries they did not dare to appear 
wealthy for fear their goods would be confiscated. 
Therefore they assumed a mean way of living, which 
caused them to be regarded meanly; and doubtless 
they often became miserly from being obliged to 
appear poor. Professor Barrett Wendell has pointed 
out that one reason why Shylock evidently seemed 
comic to an Elizabethan audience instead of almost 
wholly tragic as he appears to us is that in those 
days the actor made himself up to look like a mean 
and cringing creature instead of the dignified Hebrew 
we are accustomed to see in the part, of the type of 
an Old Testament prophet. Possibly a modern 
audience would not feel so outraged by the insults 
showered upon him if he were presented in that mean 
fashion now. 

How far Shakespeare shared in the prejudices of 
his time no one knows. He has made Shylock human, 
like every other character he drew, with human 


INTRODUCTION 


xliii 


feelings and a certain human dignity. It was evi¬ 
dently impossible for him to imagine a man in the 
guise of a fiend, as Marlowe did in his Jew of Malta , 
and it is worth while to compare Shylock with 
Marlowe’s Jew, Barabas , 1 in order to bring out more 
clearly Shakespeare’s great achievement in rising as 
far as he certainly did above the prejudices of his 
time. Marlowe makes no attempt to inspire sym¬ 
pathy or pity for his Jew. The malignity of Barabas, 
his inhuman cruelty, are not presented as even par¬ 
tially due to ill treatment by the Christians but as 
inherent in his nature. Moreover, these qualities 
are so exaggerated that they seem devilish, incredible 
in a human being. For instance, he poisons a whole 
nunnery because his daughter became a Christian 
and took the vows. And at one point in the play he 
says with wicked glee: 

As for myself, I walk abroad o’nights 
And kill sick people groaning under walls; 

Sometimes I go abroad and poison wells; . . . 

I filled the jails with bankrupts in a year, 

And with young orphans planted hospitals, 

And every moon made some or other mad, 

And now and then one hang himself for grief. 

Such unprovoked cruelty and murder lust belongs 
to some fabulous monster, not to a man like ourselves, 
and we meet it with incredulity and disgust rather 
than horror. 

Shakespeare, on the contrary, although he makes 
Shylock malicious, revengeful, merciless, shows us 
that he has good reason to hate the Christians. We 
are shown the scorn Antonio feels for him and the 
whole Jewish race; we learn of his business injuries, 
repeated personal insults, and, bitterest of all, the 


1 Bar'-a-bas. 



xliv THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 

loss of his daughter and his jewels through Antonio’s 
friends. Naturally we feel some sympathy with his 
thirst for revenge. Even in the Trial Scene, when his 
cruelty fills us with horror, we are won back to pity 
for an old man, broken by misfortunes and deserted 
by his child. When he turns to go, faltering: 

I pray you, give me leave to go from hence; 

I am not well, 

the sympathies of the audience — at least of a modern 
audience — go with him. 

Evidently Shakespeare was influenced by Marlowe. 
There are echoes in The Merchant of Venice of lines 
from the earlier Marlowe play which must have 
clung to his memory, such as: 

We are the Jasons, we have won the fleece, 
which reminds us of Marlowe’s line: 

I’ll be thy Jason, thou my golden fleece. 

Barabas’s speech: 

I learned in Florence how to kiss my hand, 

Heave up my shoulders when they called me dog, 

suggests Shy lock’s 

Still have I borne it with a patient shrug; 

and again his 

O girl! O gold! 

recalls Shylock’s exclamation when he heard of 
Jessica’s flight with the bags of gold: 

O my ducats! O my daughter! 

In the two plots also there are similarities. In both 
plays the Jew’s daughter steals her father’s jewels and 
loves a Christian. But, curiously enough, Marlowe, 


INTRODUCTION 


xlv 


who made a monster of his Jew, drew an appeal¬ 
ing character in the daughter, Abigail, while Shake¬ 
speare’s Jessica shocks a modern audience by her 
childish heartlessness. Abigail shows admirable filial 
feeling throughout the play, stealing her father’s 
jewels from his enemies only to restore them to him, 
and continues to deserve his confidence. Jessica, on 
the other hand, hates her father, steals his jewels 
and money for her own use, and is distrusted by him, 
evidently with some cause, although he seems unneces¬ 
sarily harsh. 

The dramatic reason for these changes in the situa¬ 
tion is clear. Shakespeare needed Jessica’s desertion 
to help explain Shylock’s fury, and Shylock’s harsh¬ 
ness to excuse her flight. But we find it harder to 
understand why, in spite of her unfilial behavior, 
Shakespeare and his audiences evidently regarded 
her as a charming figure, lovely and deservedly be¬ 
loved. 

Possibly Shakespeare himself was not entirely un¬ 
touched by the contempt for the Jews which belonged 
to his age, and actually regarded it as a sign of wisdom 
and virtue in a Jewess to be eager to leave her own 
home for a Christian lover’s. Certainly we find some 
evidence throughout the play that to him as well 
as to his audience Shylock’s wrongs looked far less 
evident and pathetic than they do to us, trained as 
we have been to feel sympathy for the unfortunate. 

For instance, we are inclined to feel some pity for 
Shylock when Jessica’s extravagance drives him to 
insane fury, but this scene was probably intended to 
be comic. An Elizabethan audience found madness 
as amusing as drunkenness is sometimes considered 
on our stage to-day; and rage is, of course, a lesser 
form of madness. As Brander Matthews remarks: 


xlvi THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 

“When Shylock himself appeared, wrought up to a 
pitch of frenzy, he moved the contemporary playgoers 
to ribald mirth,” and his ungoverned rage was doubt¬ 
less regarded as an effective contrast to the dignified 
self-control of Antonio, the well-bred gentleman. The 
final condition, also, requiring Shylock to become a 
Christian before he can receive mercy, so smoothly 
made, so quickly accepted, shows the influence of 
the sixteenth-century belief that Christianity was. so 
evidently superior to any other religion that nothing 
but stubbornness could explain a Jew’s refusal to 
accept baptism. 

The change in the point of view of a modern 
audience, which has been so much to Shylock’s ad¬ 
vantage, has borne heavily, perhaps with injustice, 
upon Jessica. Critics of late have been inclined to 
look upon her as a thievish and unfilial little baggage, 
“fair,” doubdess, as Lorenzo called her, but by no 
means “wise” or “true”; and this is surely harsh 
judgment on a lonely child, much in love, who fled 
from a dull life in her father’s house, where she was 
forbidden even to look out of her casement at other 
people’s pleasures, to affection and joy and happiness. 
Certainly it is treating her escapade much too seri¬ 
ously. The outwitting of stern parents by young 
lovers was a favorite, conventional episode in Eliza¬ 
bethan light comedy, and nobody thought of moraliz¬ 
ing over it. We can see how the people of that day 
felt about it from an amusing scene in a popular 
comedy by Thomas Middleton, in which the lover, 
before they run away, gets his girl’s father, a gold¬ 
smith, to make their wedding ring and put in it for a 
posy: 

Love that’s wise 

Blinds parents’ eyes. 


INTRODUCTION 


xlvii 


Says the deluded father: 

You gentlemen are mad wags! 

I wonder things can be so warily carried, 

And parents blinded so: but they’re served right 
That have two eyes and were so dull a’sight. 

That was the way Elizabethan audiences looked upon 
the matter; and the successful elopement of Jessica 
was doubtless to them only a good joke on Shylock, 
the deceived father. 

We might wish, to be sure, that Jessica had not 
“gilded herself with ducats.” Still we must be careful 
not to be too severe upon her for that, either. The 
universal Venetian custom of giving a large dot with 
a girl in marriage may naturally enough have made 
poor Jessica feel that it was a disgrace for her to go 
to Lorenzo empty-handed, and that a share of her 
father’s fortune was rightfully hers at her wedding. 
As for Lorenzo, he would probably regard her taking 
some of the Jew’s wealth in much the same light as 
the Jews themselves did the spoiling of the Egyptians 
many centuries before. 

Keen as Shakespeare is in his insight into human 
nature, which remains after all so nearly the same age 
after age, we shall fail to understand Shylock and 
Jessica if we forget that three hundred years have 
passed since he wrote this play, and that circumstances, 
ideals, even moral standards have changed sufficiently 
to affect profoundly our judgment upon their actions. 
We shall have a much clearer conception of these 
characters if we take the trouble to get, to some extent 
at least, the Elizabethan point of view. 

Questions 

i . How was The Merchant of Venice entered in the Stationers’ 
Register? Give the date. 2. Why was the alternate title un- 


xlviii 


THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 


suitable? 3. Why were the Jews a despised race in Europe at 
the time this play was written? 4. Why did the case of Dr. 
Lopez tend to increase hatred of the Jews? 5. Give the details 
of this case leading up to the death of Lopez. 6. Who was the 
first actor to play Shylock? 7. How did his conception of the 
part differ from that of modern actors? 8. How do you account 
for the fact that a modern audience is more kindly disposed to 
the Jew than an Elizabethan audience would be? 9. Compare 
Marlowe’s Jew of Malta with The Merchant of Venice, bringing out 
similarities and dissimilarities. 10. In what way is Shakespeare 
indebted to Marlowe? 11. Which shows the wider human sym¬ 
pathy? Illustrate. 12. What light is thrown on the character 
of Jessica by a study of the manners and customs of that period, 
and what excuses can be made for her desertion of her father 
and the theft of the money and jewels? 


CHAPTER VI 


THE PLOT AND ITS SOURCES 


S HYLOCK and Portia are such outstanding figures 
in the Shakespearian portrait gallery that we are 
likely to think of The Merchant of Venice as a character 
play and lose sight of the fact that structurally the 
story is the important thing. If we do this, however, 
we shall get the whole play out of focus, for Shake¬ 
speare evidently regarded it as a romantic drama, 
placing the emphasis decidedly on the love story of 
Portia and Bassanio. 

If we consider the different elements of the plot in 
detail, we shall see more clearly how they are blended 
together to make a whole in which each plays its 
appropriate part. 

The story of the pound of flesh is found in a collec¬ 
tion of Italian tales by Ser Giovanni Fiorentino, then 
very popular in England; but it is adapted rather 
freely in the play. In Ser Giovanni’s story the mer¬ 
chant is the lover’s godfather instead of his friend. 


INTRODUCTION 


xlix 


and he has to fit out a ship for the young gentleman 
three times before he is successful with the lady. 
Shakespeare’s Bassanio is made of more attractive 
stuff. Then Giovanni’s Belmont, instead of a Vene¬ 
tian suburb, is a seaport somewhere along the route 
from Venice to Alexandria. Perhaps we can detect 
some trace of this old story in Bassanio’s elaborate 
preparations for his trip to Belmont, fitting out a ship 
for a voyage of only twenty miles. Giovanni’s heroine 
is decidedly a scheming widow, and she is won by the 
help of her maid instead of by a good guess at the 
right casket. The casket story does not appear, 
neither does the elopement of Lorenzo and Jessica; 
but the episode of the rings is much the same as in 
The Merchant of Venice. 

The tale of the three caskets is a very old one, 
known to everybody, and much used by the preachers 
to point the moral that we cannot always tell by 
appearances, or, in other words, “All that glitters is 
not gold.” People were so used to hearing it that 
they did not question whether it was probable or not 
— a great advantage to the dramatist. The common 
version, found in a very popular collection called the 
Gesta Romanorum, made out that it was the lady, a 
shipwrecked princess, who had to choose the proper 
casket in order to show that she was wise enough to 
deserve the hero. In some versions the caskets are 
all alike, putting the suitor’s fortunes entirely in the 
hands of Providence. 

Shakespeare probably did not combine these stories 
himself but only worked over an old play, which had 
much the same plot and which had been found to be 
effective, adding to it, and transfiguring by the power 
of his genius what was doubtless originally a very com¬ 
monplace piece. 


1 


THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 


In the diary of Philip Henslowe, then manager of 
Shakespeare’s company, we find under August 25, 
1594, a reference to “the Venesyon Comedy,” which 
may or may not have anything to do with The Merchant 
of Venice; but Stephen Gosson, in his Schoole of Abuse , 
1579, speaks of a play called “The Jew , representing 
the greedinesse of worldly chusers, and the bloody 
mindes of usurers”; and this certainly sounds like a 
combination of the three caskets with the pound of 
flesh. Shakespeare was fond of using good material 
from old plays, working it over into masterpieces of 
his own; so it is very probable that this Jew was a 
rough prototype of The Merchant of Venice , based on 
Ser Giovanni’s romance and the old tale in the Gesta 
Romanorum. 

Most critics agree that Shakespeare added to the 
original plot the characters of Arragon, Morocco, 
Gratiano, Salanio, Salarino, Tubal, the Gobbos, 
Jessica and Lorenzo, and the entire fifth act. We 
cannot, of course, decide upon such a matter as this 
with any certainty, for it is impossible to say exactly 
what was in the old play The Jew; but after reading 
some of the plays of this class still in existence, we 
feel practically certain that at least the character 
drawing, which makes the play eternally true to life, 
the careful working up of motives, and the poetry 
that transforms base metal into gold, were Shake¬ 
speare’s own. 

All the four stories that make up the plot of The 
Merchant of Venice — the pound of flesh, the three 
caskets, the episode of the rings, and the elopement of 
Lorenzo and Jessica -— meet in the great Casket Scene, 
which is the dramatic center of the play. Here the 
joy of Portia and Bassanio at the happy ending of his 
suit is dashed by the message informing them that 


INTRODUCTION 


ii 

Antonio’s bond is forfeited; the messengers are the 
young runaways, Lorenzo and Jessica, now married, 
who are thus brought into relation with the casket 
story; and the exchange of rings, which is to produce 
such amusing complications, is also brought into this 
scene before Bassanio and Gratiano set out for Venice. 
Up to this point the plot has been piling up its compli¬ 
cations. From this time on, they are to be resolved. 

Such careful welding together of the four plots we 
may believe was due to Shakespeare’s skill, for the 
old plays were not as a rule so closely knit. In work¬ 
ing over such material he usually adopted the main 
threads of the plot, which in this case consisted of 
stories so old and familiar that they had gained the 
authority of tradition and would be readily accepted 
by an audience; he then freely added new material, 
changed the characters to suit his own conceptions, 
and carefully worked out the detail, generally making 
it conform as closely as possible to the probabilities. 
In this play it is extremely interesting to see how all 
the realistic detail he brings in distracts attention 
from the improbabilities of the old stories until even 
modern audiences fall so completely under the spell of 
the characters and become so absorbed in the story 
that they never stop to consider whether the situations 
are probable or even possible. In the first scene we 
are in Venice; everything is quite plausible; it might 
easily have happened. Then we find ourselves in 
Belmont, where two charming girls are talking over 
their lovers, as girls have always done everywhere. 
After that so gradually are we drawn into the realm 
of romantic fancy that we are not conscious of the 
transition; and whether we are reading or seeing the 
play, we accept it all without question and enjoy it 
thoroughly. 


lii 


THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 


Sometimes when the details of a scene, examined in 
cold blood, seem to us improbable, we find that the 
difficulty is merely that the customs of that day dif¬ 
fered so widely from our own that we have been 
unable to recognize their actual realism. For in¬ 
stance, in the Trial Scene in the fourth act, lawyers, 
and often laymen, are inclined to smile both at Portia’s 
decisions and at the informality with which the trial 
is conducted; but Mr. John Doyle’s account 1 of an 
experience he had while agent of a company doing 
business in Nicaragua suggests that perhaps the dif¬ 
ficulty is not so much with Shakespeare’s law as with 
our ignorance of the practices of Venetian courts at 
that time. Nicaragua was originally a Spanish colony 
and it was still using the forms of Spanish law of the 
fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, which would be 
likely to resemble those of Venetian law of the same 
date; and certainly the proceedings in the lawsuit in 
which Mr. Doyle became engaged were curiously 
like those in the case of Shylock versus Antonio. 

The case having been stated by the lawyers on both 
sides, he tells us the judge announced that, unless 
either side objected, he would submit the question 
of law involved to a certain eminent lawyer as juris¬ 
consult. No objection was made so the case was thus 
referred, and some days later, the jurisconsult re¬ 
turned the papers to the judge with a decision in 
favor of the company. This ended the case except 
for the “gratification” from the company, which the 
judge informed Mr. Doyle would be expected by the 
jurisconsult. 

Interpreting Shylock’s case in the light of this 
Nicaraguan trial, we see that both sides had evidently 


1 Cited in The Merchant of Venice , Variorum edition. 



INTRODUCTION 


liii 


agreed upon Bellario as jurisconsult. Since, however, 
he sent Portia as his substitute, either side could 
challenge her, and she is obliged to make a special 
effort to win Shylock’s good will in her opening 
speeches so that he will accept her in open court. 
He does this when he charges her to proceed to 
judgment: 

I charge you by the law, 

Whereof you are a well-deserving pillar, 

Proceed to judgment. 

At once, being now legally installed as judge, she 
changes her tactics, cites the law forbidding him to 
“shed one drop of Christian blood,” and begins to 
marshal the Venetian statutes against him and his 
bond. 

The account of this Nicaraguan lawsuit enables us 
to appreciate more fully Portia’s clever conduct of 
the case, and we see more point in Gratiano’s extrava¬ 
gant jeers at Shylock. Evidently by so eagerly accept¬ 
ing the “wise young judge,” Shylock might be said to 
have brought his discomfiture upon himself. We see 
greater propriety, too, in the Doge’s suggestion to 
Antonio that he “gratify this gentleman.” According 
to our ideas, the young judge could not properly have 
accepted a fee or present from the winning party to 
the suit; but it was evidently the correct thing under 
old Spanish law and probably also in Venice. 

The introduction of the Doge and the magnificoes 
in the Trial Scene may have been merely a dramatic 
device, for they are most picturesque and impressive 
figures. It is, however, not impossible that the Doge, 
who had the right to preside over any of the govern¬ 
mental bodies, might also, if he chose, preside at a 
civil trial in which he was especially interested. The 
“magnificoes” were undoubtedly the six Ducal coun- 


liv 


THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 


cillors who attended him from the moment he rose in 
the morning until he went to bed at night. 

The story of Lorenzo and Jessica, one of the three 
Shakespeare is believed to have added to the old play 
The Jew , may have been suggested by an episode in 
Marlowe’s Jew of Malta mentioned in another chapter. 
But it is a common enough story. There is an Italian 
novelino in which a miser’s daughter runs off with her 
lover, carrying her father’s jewels with her, and per¬ 
haps that also gave a suggestion. 

However it got into the plot, it is of great service 
there. Jessica’s elopement with one of Antonio’s 
friends and her theft of the jewels give an added 
explanation of Shylock’s terrible, almost insane 
malignity, which makes it seem more human; and 
the young couple bring with them an atmosphere 
of poetry, of youthful passion and gaiety, which 
throws an obscuring screen of romance overBassanio’s 
too practical wooing. We owe to them, also, some of 
the most beautiful passages in the play, especially at 
the beginning of the fifth act, original with Shake¬ 
speare, which makes such a delightful contrast to the 
tense atmosphere of the Trial Scene. Shylock has 
gone and with him hatred and malice, and with 
joyous relief we lose ourselves in the poetry and mu¬ 
sic, the beauty and gaiety, that surround the three 
pairs of happy lovers. 

Besides the four main stories combined in the plot 
of The Merchant of Venice , there is the episode of 
Launcelot Gobbo and his father, which is evidently 
brought in for comic relief when the play threatens 
to grow too serious. The name Gobbo may have 
been suggested by a grotesque stone figure support¬ 
ing a pillar near the Exchange, called the Gobbo di 
Rialto, from which the laws of Venice were pro- 


INTRODUCTION 


lv 


claimed; but it is a common Venetian name. Launce- 
lot is a likable fellow in spite of his conceit — fond, 
like most of Shakespeare’s clowns, of using big words 
which he does not understand, and given to atrocious 
puns. As the Jew’s servant he plays an important 
part in giving us a view of Shylock’s domestic life 
in all its meagerness and dullness, and he serves as a 
go-between for Lorenzo and Jessica. The scene be¬ 
tween him and his father gives opportunity for one 
of the most charming bits of local color in the play — 
the old man bringing a basket of doves to his son’s 
master, as to this day country people in Italy present 
doves for gifts. 


Questions 

i. How many plots are combined in The Merchant of Venice? 
2. What are their sources? 3. In what respects do the stories as 
they appear in the play differ from the older stories? 4. What 
elements in the plot are generally regarded as original with 
Shakespeare? 5. Name the characters that he is said to have 
added. 6. What old play may have been worked over by him? 
7. What parts of the plot seem improbable? How does it happen 
that we are blind to these improbabilities when we see the play 
or even read it? 8. What is the dramatic center of the play? 
9. Show how all the threads of the plot are brought together and 
then unraveled. 10. Give the main facts in connection with the 
Nicaraguan suit and show how this throws light on the conduct 
of the suit of Shylock against Antonio. 11. Why is the Lorenzo 
and Jessica story of service in the plot? 12. Why did Shakespeare 
introduce Launcelot and Old Gobbo, and where did he get the 
name Gobbo? 13. What bit of local color is introduced in 
connection with Old Gobbo? 


lvi 


THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 


CHAPTER VII 

THE VERSE AND LANGUAGE OF 
“THE MERCHANT OF VENICE” 



popular in the English drama by Christopher Mar¬ 
lowe. Normally it consists of five measures, or feet, 
each containing a pair of syllables with the accent on 
the second one of the pair. A. measure of this kind 
is called an iambus, and the five-foot line, iambic 
pentameter. We find a typical example of it in the 
first line of the play: 

In sooth / I know / not why / I am / so sad. 

In Shakespeare’s early plays, most of his blank 
verse is regular, made up of lines of this type, and 
there is usually a pause at the end of each line. But 
in time both he and other dramatists came to feel 
that these regular end-stopped lines were too monoto¬ 
nous — almost as much so, in fact, as the couplets, 
or pairs of rhymed lines, which had been the earlier 
mode; and in one way or another they began to 
introduce variety. 

For instance, they would occasionally use a trochee, 
or two-syllabled foot with the accent on the first 
syllable, instead of the iambus: 

Empt-ies / it-self / as doth / an in- / land brook; 
or a measure made up of three short syllables: 

To cut / the for- / feit-ure from / that bank- / rupt there. 

Often an extra syllable or two appeared at the end of a 
line, making what is known as a feminine ending: 

Wear prayer / books in / my pock- / et, look / de-mure-ly. 


INTRODUCTION lvii 

An extra syllable is often found, too, after a sense 
pause within the line: 

With-out / the stamp / of mer-it? / Let none / pre-sume. 

The pause in the middle of the line instead of at the 
end is a common variation, and a pause is sometimes 
found also in the first or second foot: 

Shy-lock, / there’s thrice / thy mon- / ey of- / fered thee. 

Sit, Jess- / i-ca. / Look how / the floor / of heav-en. 

Or in the fourth: 

You hear / the learned / Bell-ar- / io. What / he writes. 

Sometimes we find a short line, with some gesture or 
other stage business taking the place of the omitted 
measures: 

Portia: It is / so. Are / there bal- / ance here / to weigh 

The flesh? / — / — / (During the pause, Shylock shows 
his scales.) 

Shylock: I have / them read / y. 

And sometimes a line appears, called an Alexandrine, 
containing six feet: 

Who choos- / eth me / shall gain / what ma- / ny men / de-sire; 
but this is exceptional. 

In Shakespeare’s early plays, such variations are 
uncommon, the blank verse is made up of regular 
iambic, end-stopped lines and we find a good many 
passages in the older couplet form. The verse of A 
Midsummer Night's Dream is of this character. But in 
later plays the variations are constantly increasing in 
number while the number of couplets decreases. By 
the time he was writing The Merchant of Venice, which 
belongs to his middle period, couplets had practically 
disappeared, except to mark the ends of scenes, 
where on our stage a curtain would fall, or, occasion- 


lviii 


THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 


ally, where he wishes to give especial emphasis to two 
or more lines. He now shows a complete mastery 
over the difficulties of blank verse. The rhythm is 
perfectly flexible and easy, and it is at the same time 
sufficiently simple in structure to be followed easily 
even by an inexperienced reader. There is no doubt 
but that one of the reasons for the universal popularity 
of The Merchant of Venice is the extreme beauty and 
simplicity of its verse forms. 

It is a difficult art to read blank verse so as to bring 
out the beauty of the rhythm without sacrificing the 
dramatic quality. Some excellent suggestions are 
given in the Appendix to the Arden edition of this 
play: “It is to be carefully noted here that though 
the metrical stresses, as metrical, have all the same 
value, yet . . . the lines are not to be read with five 
equal stresses. The reason for this caution lies in the 
fact that there is emphasis as well as metrical stress 
to be expressed. . . . Another equally important 
caution in reading is that the words must be grouped 
by their phrases, not divided at the ends of the feet. 
It is one of the chief beauties of good verse that the 
phrase-groups, into which the words fall, do not 
coincide with the metrical groups of feet and lines, 
but form, as it were, patterns of their own upon the 
pattern of the metre. It is in this counterplay between 
the metre and the sense that the charm of versification 
lies. . . . The metrical beat must always be rendered, 
but along with it the accent required by pronuncia¬ 
tion and the emphasis required by the sense must be 
so clearly given as to prevent the ‘sing-song’ or ‘see¬ 
saw’ effect produced by reading lines simply accord¬ 
ing to their scansion.” This perfect balance between 
metre and sense is the ideal to strive for; but if one 
must err on one side or the other it is far better to 


INTRODUCTION lix 

overstress the rhythm than to read verse as if it were 
prose. 

About four-fifths of The Merchant of Venice is in blank 
verse. This dignified form of expression, however, 
would be inappropriate for clownish characters like 
the Gobbos, and less effective than prose in repartee. 
Prose, therefore, is used in such cases. In other 
cases, it seems to have been used merely for variety, 
or perhaps at times for no particular reason. The 
structure of the play was evidently planned with care, 
but we are not to suppose that all the details were 
meticulously worked out beforehand. Spontaneity 
is one of the characteristics of genius, and much was 
undoubtedly left to the inspiration of the moment. 

As to the language, in the time of Shakespeare 
English had not yet reached stability in grammatical 
forms. Indeed, a living language never is absolutely 
fixed, and even to-day we can see grammatical 
changes slowly making their way into our common 
speech. In the sixteenth century everybody used 
many expressions which have now either dropped out 
entirely or are no longer good usage. Most noticeable 
of these are: 

(1) The use of the dative, as in “pill’d me,” “you 
were best.” 

(2) Double negatives and comparatives, as “Nor 
shall not,” “more elder.” 

(3) The use of prepositions with certain verbs, no 
longer used in English but still retained in French, 
such as: 

I humbly do desire your grace of pardon. 

(4) Prepositions used in a sense they do not now 
carry, as to , used for “of”: “an attribute to God”; 
of instead of “for,” “about”; by in place of “for.” - 


lx 


THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 


(5) Which and who used interchangeably: 

I am married to a wife 
Which is as' dear to me as life itself. 

(6) Omission of a verb of motion when the sense 
is clear, as in “I entreat you home.” Curiously 
enough this is still common usage in some parts of 
the South and West, where one hears frequently such 
expressions as “I want in,” or “I want out.” 

(7) The use of her or his for “its,” then a new word 
in the language: 

There is no vice so simple but assumes 

Some mark of virtue on his outward parts. 

(8) Poetic license permitting the pronunciation of 
final tion or sion in two syllables when the rhythm re¬ 
quired it: 

You loved / I loved; / for in / termis / si-on. 

Most of these variations are quite trivial, but are 
mentioned here chiefly because, having once been 
noted, they can thereafter be passed over without 
comment, not distracting attention from the sense 
of the passage or the beauty of the verse in which 
they occur. In case, however, some of the students 
are especially interested in language, it will be worth 
their while to choose one of the variations mentioned 
and note its occurrence throughout the play. Such 
an exercise gives valuable insight into the way a lan¬ 
guage develops in accordance with its own genius. 

Questions 

1. About how much of this play is in blank verse? 2. Describe 
a typical blank verse line. 3. Who first made it popular in the 
drama? 4. What is a feminine ending? An end-stopped line? 
5. Give examples of lines in which the pauses occur elsewhere 
than at the ends of lines. 6. How should blank verse be read? 
7. What can you say of the use of prose in this play? 8. How 


INTRODUCTION 


lxi 


was the dative case used in Elizabethan English? 9. Give some 
examples to show that there have been changes since Shake¬ 
speare’s day in the use of some prepositions. 10. Of some pro¬ 
nouns. 11. Name any other changes you can think of. 12. In 
what two ways may we pronounce the endings sion and tion when 
reading blank verse? 13. What is the metrical name for a line of 
blank verse? 


CHAPTER VIII 

“THE MERCHANT OF VENICE” 

ON THE STAGE 

r HE MERCHANT OF VENICE was first per¬ 
formed sometime between 1594 and 1598, at 
one of the London theaters, probably either The 
Theatre or The Curtain, with an excellent acting com¬ 
pany but no scenery. The actors occupied only the 
center of the stage, with the stools of the more fashion¬ 
able spectators crowding them on either side; and as 
there was nothing but a placard to tell where the 
action took place, great demands were made upon 
the imaginations of the audience. Fortunately the 
imaginations of Elizabethans were active and Venice 
was well known, so probably the absence of scenery 
did not seriously impair the effectiveness of the play. 

The part of Shylock was played by Richard Bur¬ 
bage, with a red wig and false nose; and undoubtedly 
he made it, to some extent at least, a comic part. 
Still, since we know that he was a great actor and 
Shakespeare’s friend, we can be sure that he gave an 
impressive impersonation, and that at times, to accord 
with the lines of the play, he made the Jew terrible 
in his hatred and malice: 

A stony adversary, an inhuman wretch, 

Uncapable of pity, void and empty 
From any dram of mercy. 


lxii THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 

The roles of Portia, Nerissa, and Jessica were taken 
by boys, an arrangement which was probably more 
satisfactory than one might think. The boys were 
very cleverly made up and admirably trained, and 
some of them were extremely popular in women’s 
parts. 

After the Puritans closed the theaters, we hear 
nothing of The Merchant of Venice until Lord Lansdowne 
made a garbled version of it in 1701, emphasizing 
the ludicrous and contemptible aspects of Shylock’s 
character. This version held the stage for forty 
years, when the celebrated actor, Macklin, restored 
the play as Shakespeare wrote it. His Shylock was 
terrifying — hatred and revenge incarnate. When 
he declaimed the fierce denunciations in the Street 
Scene of Act III, the amazed audience fairly rocked 
the theater with applause, and a gentleman in the pit, 
said to have been Mr. Pope, exclaimed aloud in his 
enthusiasm: 

This is the Jew 

That Shakespeare drew! 

Since then great actors have represented Shylock in 
various ways. Some, like Edmund Kean, have made 
him Justice personified, the typical Hebrew, revenging 
upon Antonio the wrongs of his race rather than his 
own. Kean was the first to play the part in a black 
wig instead of a red one, and he discarded entirely 
the comic features, astounding his audience by his 
terrific tragic passion and intense feeling. Furness 
recalls hearing his father say that “the prolonged, 
grating, guttural tone of utter contempt with which 
Edmund Kean dwelt on this word [‘rail,’ Act IV, 
Scene 1] had never left his memory.” 

In 1867, Edwin Booth revived The Merchant of 
Venice in New York, with beautiful scenery painted 


INTRODUCTION 


lxiii 


from actual Venetian streets and buildings. “Ven¬ 
ice,” wrote one of the spectators, “with its pale, 
lovely colors, floats ’twixt sea and sky, like some city of 
a dream”; and in the street scenes a motley crowd, 
passing to and fro on its own business, created an 
extraordinary illusion of city life. Booth followed 
the custom of his day in omitting the fifth act, 
placing the emphasis on the part of the Jew; and his 
Shylock was a notable performance — subtle, crafty, 
grimly humorous at times and at others fiercely 
passionate, as when he cried out on hearing of 
Antonio’s losses: “I thank God! I thank God!” 
Winter says of his acting in the Trial Scene: “The 
total effect was that of the vibrant, observant poise of a 
deadly reptile.” 

Many critics have regarded Henry Irving’s produc¬ 
tion as superior even to Booth’s. He restored the 
fifth act, giving the romance of Portia and Bassanio 
its proper place in the play, and bringing the part of 
Shylock down to correct proportions. The beauty 
and splendor of Venice came out strikingly in his 
stage settings and colorful costumes. Back stage, 
gondolas floated lazily past painted palaces and gay, 
moving crowds; there was music, soft and dreamy, 
of fifes and stringed instruments; the Rialto was 
crowded with traders, both Jews and Gentiles. And 
never could the fifth act be made more beautiful 
and idyllic — all flowers and music and a heavenly 
blue light suggesting moonlight, while “the serene 
presence of Portia dominated an enchanting picture 
of friendship vindicated and love fulfilled.” 

Winter 1 describes Irving’s treatment of the elope¬ 
ment so vividly that we can almost see before our eyes 

1 Winter, William: Shakespeare on the Stage. Dodd, Mead & 
Company, Incorporated. 



lxiv THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 

the scene in front of Shylock’s house, the bridge cross¬ 
ing the canal and Shylock preparing to feast with the 
hated Christians: “When he had bidden Jessica, 
‘Lock up my doors, 5 he entered the house, was absent 
for a moment, and then returned, wearing a cloak 
and an orange-tawny, turban-like head-dress, and 
carrying a lantern and a staff. Hearing the voice of 
Launcelot, who was speaking in a hurried undertone 
to Jessica, but not hearing the words, he swiftly 
advanced to his daughter as Launcelot sped away, 
seized her by the wrist, looked suspiciously upon her 
face and harshly put the question to her — pointing 
with his stick after the departed servant — ‘What 
says that fool of Hagar’s offspring — ha? 5 Reassured 
by Jessica’s ready lie, he turned from her, murmuring, 
‘The patch is kind enough, 5 and then, with the old 
proverb about the wisdom of precaution on his lips, 
ascended to the bridge and passed across it, out of 
sight. The elopement of Jessica and Lorenzo was 
then effected, in a gondola which moved smoothly 
away in the canal. The scene became tumultuous 
with a revel of riotous maskers, who sang, danced, 
frolicked, and tumbled in front of Shylock’s house, 
as though obtaining mischievous pleasure in disturb¬ 
ing the neighborhood of the Jew’s decorous dwelling. 
Soon that clamorous rabble streamed away; there 
was a lull in the music, and the grim figure of Shylock, 
his staff in one hand, his lantern in the other, ap¬ 
peared on the bridge, where for an instant he paused, 
his seamed, cruel face, visible in a gleam of ruddy 
light, contorted by a sneer, as he listened to the sounds 
of revelry dying in the distance. Then he descended 
the steps, crossed to his dwelling, raised his right 
hand, struck twice upon the door with the iron 
knocker, and stood like a statue, waiting — while a 


INTRODUCTION 


lxv 


slow-descending curtain closed in one of the most 
impressive pictures that any stage has ever presented.” 

Irving made Shylock a dignified character, almost 
an aristocrat in dress and manner, who respected 
himself and won a certain respect from others also, 
as a man who had money and could hold his own in 
a business deal. Ellen Terry, the Portia to Irving’s 
Shylock, showed splendid intelligence in her portrayal 
of the character of this most intellectual of Shake¬ 
speare’s heroines. Throughout, her Portia was 
primarily a great-hearted, large-minded woman in 
love. She read her lines beautifully, there was 
abundant vivacity, and her ability and artistry shone 
brilliantly in the Court Scene. She was the first 
Portia to wear a red robe as Doctor of Laws, and this 
made her, pictorially, the most impressive figure in 
this stirring scene. 

Here Irving also was singularly dramatic, especially 
in his final exit. When the verdict was given and 
the penalties came down on his head, Shylock aged 
perceptibly before the eyes of the spectators. He 
himself said “lam not well,” and Irving showed his 
illness. He became almost decrepit in a moment. 
There he stood, a man who had lost everything, 
crushed, hopeless, and fast becoming helpless. As he 
started to leave the court room, a hush fell on the 
stage; the actors riveted their attention on the de¬ 
feated and broken old man. Even Gratiano held his 
tongue and forgot to taunt the Jew further. The 
silence was impressive, and the breathless interest of 
the audience added to the effect. Slowly and pain¬ 
fully, with no one offering him any help, he moved 
laboriously to the wings, the picture of weakness and 
despair, and put his right hand on some part of the 
scenery for support. After he was out of sight, that 


lxvi THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 

hand slowly, very slowly, dragged itself along and 
finally disappeared. The exit seemed to take a long 
time. When the scene was resumed and the actors 
spoke again, speech sounded strange and uncanny. 
The audience felt that death would come soon, merci¬ 
fully soon, and in pity for him they were glad. 
Touches like this, introduced by modern actors, have 
done much to give us a Shylock different from the one 
the Elizabethans knew. And Shakespeare, with his 
broad human sympathies and understanding — would 
he have approved? We can only guess. 

Since Irving’s, the most notable production of 
The Merchant of Venice was that of Winthrop Ames in 
1928, when George Arliss took the part of Shylock. 
The stage setting, a foreground of dark arches with 
various painted drop curtains at the back, lent itself 
to very rapid changes of scene, one scene melting into 
another almost as easily and naturally as on an Eliza¬ 
bethan stage. The effects, though simple, were very 
beautiful. Prows of gondolas and the sculptured 
fronts of buildings, so painted as to appear to be on 
the other side of a canal, suggested a street scene; the 
Belmont interiors were hung with tapestries, and 
the Court Scene had for its background a triptych of 
pictures and a massed group of citizens who acted as a 
kind of Greek chorus, showing by their movements 
and murmurings the effects the actors wished to 
produce. They helped also to make the scene colorful, 
and their crowding showed what Shakespeare meant 
by the line: 

Make room and let him stand before our face. 

Arliss used Irving’s stage business in the elopement 
scene, adding to it by crying out “Jessica! Jessica!” 
when there was no answer to his knock. He pre- 


INTRODUCTION 


lxvii 


sented the Jew as a middle-aged man, his black beard 
merely sprinkled with white, and one critic remarked 
that the thing which most impressed the spectator 
was what a gentleman his Shylock was. Roland 
Holt, in The Drama , March, 1928, comments on his 
unusual quiet and restraint, even in the Trial Scene. 
He finds Shylock’s collapse after he has been sentenced 
one of the most telling bits of acting. “Then after 
Antonio lifts him up, he brushes away the Gentile’s 
hand, as though it were unclean.” This is certainly 
new stage business. Indeed the whole modern con¬ 
ception of Shylock is far removed from the Eliza¬ 
bethan idea of him as the ranting and vindictive old 
usurer. 


Questions 

1. Give some account of the first production of The Merchant 
of Venice. 2. Who took the part of Shylock and how was he made 
up? 3. What do you know of the history of this play between 
Shakespeare’s time and Kean’s? 4. How did Kean act the part 
of Shylock? 5. Describe Booth’s revival of The Merchant of Venice. 
6. How did Irving’s production differ from Booth’s? 7. Give 
some account of Irving in the part of Shylock. 8. Of Ellen Terry 
in the part of Portia. 9. Describe the stage settings used in 
Winthrop Ames’s production in 1928. 10. How did Arliss’s con¬ 
ception of Shylock differ from that of the Elizabethans? 


DRAMATIS PERSONAL 


The Duke of Venice 
The Prince of Morocco 
The Prince of Arragon 

Antonio. 

Bassanio. 

Salanio 

Salarino >. 

Gratiano J 

Lorenzo . 

Shylock . 

Tubal . 

Launcelot Gobbo . . . 

Old Gobbo. 

Leonardo . 

Balthasar 1 
Stephano f 


.Suitors to Portia 

.A merchant of Venice 

His friend, suitor likewise to Portia 

Friends to Antonio and Bassanio 

.In love with Jessica 

.A rich Jew 

.A Jew, his friend 

. The clown, servant to Shylock 

.Father to Launcelot 

.Servant to Bassanio 

.Servants to Portia 


Portia .A rich heiress 

Nerissa .Her waiting-maid 

Jessica ..Daughter to Shylock 

Magnificoes of Venice, Officers of the Court of Justice, 
Gaoler, Servants to Portia, and other Attendants 

Scene ■— Partly at Venice, and partly at Belmont, 
the seat of Portia, on the Continent 


Ixviii 
















THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 


ACT I 

Scene I — Venice. A Street 

Enter Antonio, Salarino, and Salanio 

Ant. In sooth, I know not why I am so sad: 

It wearies me; you say it wearies you; 

But how I caught it, found it, or came by it, 

What stuff ’tis made of, whereof it is born, 

I am to learn; 

And such a want-wit sadness makes of me, 

That I have much ado to know myself. 

Salar. Your mind is tossing on the ocean; 

There, where your argosies with portly sail, 

Like signiors and rich burghers on the flood, 

Or, as it were, the pageants of the sea, 

Do overpeer the petty traffickers, 

That curtsy to them, do them reverence, 

As they fly by them with their woven wings. 

Satan. Believe me, sir, had I such venture forth, 
The better part of my affections would 
Be with my hopes abroad. I should be still 
Plucking the grass, to know where sits the wind, 

Line i . sooth: truth, as in soothsayer, i. sad. Note that An¬ 
tonio is haunted by a presentiment of evil. 2. It: sadness. 
5. am to: have yet to. A moment of musing fills out the line. 
8. o-ce-an. 9. argosies: large merchant ships. 12. overpeer: 
look down upon the smaller vessels bobbing in their wake. 
15. forth: on foot, out. 17. still: ever. 18. Holding up a blade 
of grass to determine the direction of the wind. 



2 


THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 


[Act I 


Peering in maps for ports and piers and roads; 

And every object that might make me fear 20 

Misfortune to my ventures, out of doubt 
Would made me sad. 

Salar. My wind cooling my broth 

Would blow me to an ague, when I thought 
What harm a wind too great at sea might do. 

I should not see the sandy hour-glass run, 

But I should think of shallows and of flats, 

And see my wealthy Andrew dock’d in sand, 

Vailing her high-top lower than her ribs 

To kiss her burial. Should I go to church 

And see the holy edifice of stone, 30 

And not bethink me straight of dangerous rocks, 

Which touching but my gentle vessel’s side, 

Would scatter all her spices on the stream, 

Enrobe the roaring waters with my silks, 

And, in a word, but even now worth this, 

And now worth nothing? Shall I have the thought 
To think on this, and shall I lack the thought 
That such a thing bechanced would make me sad? 

But tell not me; I know, Antonio 

Is sad to think upon his merchandise. 40 

Ant. Believe me, no: I thank my fortune for it, 

My ventures are not in one bottom trusted, 

Nor to one place; nor is my whole estate 
Upon the fortune of this present year: 

Therefore my merchandise makes me not sad. 

Salar. Why, then you are in love. 

Ant. Fie, fie! 


Line 19. roads: anchorage. 27. Andrew: common nickname 
for a galley. 28. Vailing: lowering. 29. burial: burial place. 
29. Should: could. 35. worth this, with a comprehensive ges¬ 
ture, indicating the vessel and its cargo. 38. bechanced: if it 
happened. 42. bottom: ship. 44. Upon: is dependent upon. 




Scene i] THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 


3 

Salar. Not in love neither? Then let us say 
you are sad, 

Because you are not merry: and ’twere as easy 
For you to laugh and leap and say you are merry, 
Because you are not sad. Now, by two-headed 

Janus, 50 

Nature hath framed strange fellows in her time: 

Some that will evermore peep through their eyes 
And laugh like parrots at a bag-piper, 

And other of such vinegar aspect 

That they’ll not show their teeth in way of smile, 

Though Nestor swear the jest be laughable. 

Enter Bassanio, Lorenzo, and Gratiano 
Salan. Here comes Bassanio, your most noble 
kinsman, 

Gratiano and Lorenzo. Fare ye well: 

We leave you now with better company. 

Salar. I would have stay’d till I had made you 

merry, 60 

If worthier friends had not prevented me. 

Ant. Your worth is very dear in my regara. 

I take it, your own business calls on you 
And you embrace the occasion to depart. 

Salar. Good morrow, my good lords. 

Bass. Good signiors both, when shall we laugh? 
say, when? 

You grow exceeding strange: must it be so? 

Salar. We’ll make our leisures to attend on 
yours. [.Exeunt Salarino and Salanio. 


Line 50. Janus: Roman deity, guardian of gates; two-faced be¬ 
cause every door looks two ways. 54. other, often used for others. 
54. as-pect". 56. Nestor: the personification of gravity, the 
oldest of the Greeks at the siege of Troy. 61. prevented: fore¬ 
stalled, literally come before. 67. exceeding strange: great strangers. 



4 THE MERCHANT OF VENICE [Act I 

Lor. My Lord Bassanio, since you have found 
Antonio, 

We two will leave you: but at dinner-time, 70 

I pray you, have in mind where we must meet. 

Bass. I will not fail you. 

Gra. You look not well, Signior Antonio; 

You have too much respect upon the world: 

They lose it that do buy it with much care: 

Believe me, you are marvellously changed. 

Ant. I hold the world but as the world, Gratiano; 

A stage where every man must play a part, 

And mine a sad one. 

Gra. Let me play the fool: 

With mirth and laughter let old wrinkles come, 80 

And let my liver rather heat with wine 
Than my heart cool with mortifying groans. 

Why should a man, whose blood is warm within, 

Sit like his grandsire cut in alabaster? 

Sleep when he wakes and creep into the jaundice 
By being peevish? I tell thee what, Antonio — 

I love thee, and it is my love that speaks — 

There are a sort of men whose visages 
Do cream and mantle like a standing pond, 

And do a wilful stillness entertain, 90 

With purpose to be dress’d in an opinion 
Of wisdom, gravity, profound conceit, 

As who should say “I am Sir Oracle, 

And when I ope my lips let no dog bark!” 

O my Antonio, I do know of these 
That therefore only are reputed wise 
For saying nothing, when, I am very sure, 

Line 74. You take the world too seriously. 79. play the fool: 
play the part of the fool, or clown. 82. mortifying: death- 
causing. 90. And do: And who do. 91. opinion of: reputa¬ 
tion for. 92. conceit: thought. 93. Sir Oracle: personification 
of wisdom. 



Scene i] THE MERCHANT OE VENICE 5 

If they should speak, would almost damn those ears 
Which, hearing them, would call their brothers fools. 
I’ll tell thee more of this another time: 

But fish not, with this melancholy bait, 

For this fool gudgeon, this opinion. 

Come, good Lorenzo. Fare ye well awhile: 

I’ll end my exhortation after dinner. 

Lor. Well, we will leave you then till dinner¬ 
time: 

I must be one of these same dumb wise men, 

For Gratiano never lets me speak. 

Gra. Well, keep me company but two years moe, 
Thou shalt not know the sound of thine own tongue. 
Ant. Farewell: I’ll grow a talker for this gear. 
Gra. Thanks, i’ faith, for silence is only com¬ 
mendable 

In a neat’s tongue dried. 

[Exeunt Gratiano and Lorenzo. 
Ant. Is that any thing now? 

Bass. Gratiano speaks an infinite deal of nothing, 
more than any man in all Venice. His reasons are as 
two grains of wheat hid in two bushels of chaff: you 
shall seek all day ere you find them, and when you 
have them, they are not worth the search. 

Ant. Well, tell me now what lady is the same 
To whom you swore a secret pilgrimage, 

That you to-day promised to tell me of? 

Bass. ’T is not unknown to you, Antonio, 

How much I have disabled mine estate, 


Lines 98-99. They would, by their stupidity, cause those who 
heard them to say to them, their brothers, “Thou fool,” thus 
putting their auditors in danger of judgment. See Matthew, v, 22. 
102. gudgeon: a stupid fish, easy to catch. 102. o-pin-i-on. 
108. moe, or mo: “comparative of many, more the comparative of 
much.” — Morris: Historical English Grammar. 110. for this gear: 
for this business. 112. neat’s: horned cattle. 


100 


110 


120 



6 


THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 


[Act I 


By something showing a more swelling port 
Than my faint means would grant continuance: 

Nor do I now make moan to be abridged 

From such a noble rate; but my chief care 

Is to come fairly off from the great debts 

Wherein my time something too prodigal 

Hath left me gaged. To you, Antonio, 130 

I owe the most, in money and in love, 

And from your love I have a warranty 
To unburden all my plots and purposes 
How to get clear of all the debts I owe. 

Ant. I pray you, good Bassanio, let me know it; 

And if it stand, as you yourself still do, 

Within the eye of honour, be assured, 

My purse, my person, my extremest means, 

Lie all unlock’d to your occasions. 

Bass. In my school-days, when I had lost one 

shaft, 140 

I shot his fellow of the self-same flight 
The self-same way with more advised watch, 

To find the other forth, and by adventuring both 
I oft found both: I urge this childhood proof, 

Because what follows is pure innocence. 

I owe you much, and, like a wilful youth, 

That which I owe is lost; but if you please 
To shoot another arrow that self way 
Which you did shoot the first, I do not doubt, 

As I will watch the aim, or to find both 150 


Line 124. something: somewhat, modifying more. 124. port: 
state. 126. to be: on account of being. 129. time: springtime 
of life. 130. gaged: pledged. 137. Within the eye of honour: 
within the range of honor’s vision. 139. oc-ca-si-ons: necessities. 
141. his, used for its , which was a new word at that time. 
141. flight: range. 142. advised: careful, deliberate. 144. proof: 
example. 150. or — or, used instead of either — or. 




White Studio 


Bassanio: I urge this childhood proof, 

Because what follows is pure innocence. 




8 


THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 


[Act I 


Or bring your latter hazard back again 
And thankfully rest debtor for the first. 

Ant. You know me well, and herein spend but 
time 

To wind about my love with circumstance; 

And out of doubt you do me now more wrong 
In making question of my uttermost 
Than if you had made waste of all I have: 

Then do but say to me what I should do 
That in your knowledge may by me be done, 

And I am prest unto it: therefore, speak. 160 

Bass. In Belmont is a lady richly left; 

And she is fair and, fairer than that word, 

Of wondrous virtues: sometimes from her eyes 
I did receive fair speechless messages: 

Her name is Portia, nothing undervalued 
To Cato’s daughter, Brutus’ Portia: 

Nor is the wide world ignorant of her worth, 

For the four winds blow in from every coast 
Renowned suitors, and her sunny locks 
Hang on her temples like a golden fleece; 170 

Which makes her seat of Belmont Colchos’ strand, 

And many Jasons come in quest of her. 

O my Antonio, had I but the means 
To hold a rival place with one of them, 

I have a mind presages me such thrift, 

That I should questionless be fortunate! 

Ant. Thou know’st that all my fortunes are at 
sea; 

Line 160. prest unto: ready for. 163. sometimes: formerly. 

166. Cato: a Roman philosopher, whose daughter, Portia, wife 
of Brutus, is a prominent character in the play, Julius Casar. 

169. sunny locks : doubtless Titian red. 171. Colchos: ancient 
Asian province east of the Black Sea to which the Argonauts 
came in their search for the Golden Fleece. Consult any my¬ 
thology for the details. 175. thrift: prosperous issue. 



Scene 2] THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 


9 


Neither have I money nor commodity 
To raise a present sum: therefore go forth; 
Try what my credit can in Venice do: 

That shall be rack’d, even to the uttermost, 
To furnish thee to Belmont, to fair Portia. 
Go, presently inquire, and so will I, 

Where money is, and I no question make 
To have it of my trust or for my sake. 


[ Exeunt. 


180 


Scene II — Belmont. A room in Portia’s house 
Enter Portia and NerissA 


For. ' By my troth, Nerissa, my little body is aweary 
of this great world. 

Ner. You would be, sweet madam, if your miseries 
were in the same abundance as your good fortunes 
are: and yet, for aught I see, they are as sick that sur¬ 
feit with too much as they that starve with nothing. It 
is no mean happiness therefore, to be seated in the 
mean: superfluity comes sooner by white hairs, but 
competency lives longer. 10 

For. Good sentences and well pronounced. 

Ner. They would be better, if well followed. 

For. If to do were as easy as to know what were 
good to do, chapels had been churches and poor men’s 
cottages princes’ palaces. It is a good divine that 
follows his own instructions: I can easier teach twenty 
what were good to be done, than be one of the twenty 
to follow mine own teaching. The brain may devise 
laws for the blood, but a hot temper leaps o’er a cold 
decree: such a hare is madness the youth, to skip o’er 20 


Line 183. presently: immediately. 185. of my trust: on credit. 
1. aweary. Note that Portia, as well as Antonio, is ill at ease. 
9. mean: midway between two extremes. 




IO THE MERCHANT OF VENICE [Act I 

the meshes of good counsel the cripple. But this reason¬ 
ing is not in the fashion to choose me a husband. O 
me, the word “choose!” I may neither choose whom 
I would nor refuse whom I dislike; so is the will of a 
living daughter curbed by the will of a dead father. 

Is it not hard, Nerissa, that I cannot choose one nor 
refuse none? 

Ner. Your father was ever virtuous; and holy 30 
men at their death have good inspirations: therefore 
the lottery, that he hath devised in these three chests 
of gold, silver and lead, whereof who chooses his 
meaning chooses you, will, no doubt, never be chosen 
by any rightly but one who shall rightly love. But 
what warmth is there in your affection towards any of 
these princely suitors that are already come? 

Por. I pray thee, over-name them; and as thou 
namest them, I will describe them; and, according to 40 
my description, level at my affection. 

Ner. First, there is the Neapolitan prince. 

Por. Ay, that’s a colt indeed, for he doth nothing 
but talk of his horse; and he makes it a great appro¬ 
priation to his own good parts, that he can shoe him 
himself. 

Ner. Then there is the County Palatine. 

Por. He doth nothing but frown, as who should 50 
say “If you will not have me, choose”: he hears merry 
tales and smiles not: I fear he will prove the weeping 
philosopher when he grows old, being so full of un¬ 
mannerly sadness in his youth. I had rather be mar¬ 
ried to a death’s-head with a bone in his mouth than 
to either of these. God defend me from these two! 


Line 24. Note the pun on “will.” 41. level at: guess at. 
44. appropriation: addition. 49. County: Count. 52. weeping 
philosopher: Heraclitus of Ephesus, who fled to the mountains to 
weep in solitude over the follies of men. 



Scene 2] THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 


11 

Ner. How say you by the French lord, Monsieur 
Le Bon? 

Por. God made him, and therefore let him pass 60 
for a man. In truth, I know it is a sin to be a mocker: 
but, he! why, he hath a horse better than the Neapoli¬ 
tan’s, a better bad habit of frowning than the Count 
Palatine; he is every man in no man; if a throstle 
sing, he falls straight a capering: he will fence with 
his own shadow: if I should marry him, I should 
marry twenty husbands. If he would despise me, I 
would forgive him, for if he love me to madness, I 
shall never requite him. 70 

Ner. What say you, then, to Falconbridge, the 
young baron of England? 

Por. You know I say nothing to him, for he under¬ 
stands not me, nor I him: he hath neither Latin, 
French, nor Italian, and you will come into the court 
and swear that I have a poor pennyworth in the 
English. He is a proper man’s picture, but, alas, who 
can converse with a dumb-show? How oddly he is 
suited! I think he bought his doublet in Italy, his 80 
round hose in France, his bonnet in Germany and his 
behaviour every where. 

Ner. What think you of the Scottish lord, his 
neighbour? 

Por. That he hath a neighbourly charity in him, 
for he borrowed a box of the ear of the Englishman 
and swore he would pay him again when he was able: 

I think the Frenchman became his surety and sealed 
under for another. 

Line 58. by: concerning. 78. proper: handsome. 80. suited: 
dressed. 80. doublet: close-fitting jacket. 81. round hose: 
knee breeches. 81. bonnet: cap. 83. Scottish lord , according 
to the text of the Quartos, which were printed in the time of 
Elizabeth. After King James came to the throne, “Scottish” 
was changed to “other.” 88. sealed under: put his seal below the 
other, as his ally. 



2 


THE MERCHANT OF VENICE [Act I 


Ner. How like you the young German, the Duke 90 
of Saxony’s nephew? 

For. Very vilely in the morning, when he is sober, 
and most vilely in the afternoon, when he is drunk: 
when he is best, he is a little worse than a man, and 
when he is worst, he is little better than a beast: an the 
worst fall that ever fell, I hope I shall make shift to go 
without him. 

Ner. If he should offer to choose, and choose the 
right casket, you should refuse to perform your 100 
father’s will, if you should refuse to accept him. 

For. Therefore, for fear of the worst, I pray thee, 
set a deep glass of rhenish wine on the contrary casket, 
for if the devil be within and that temptation without, 

I know he will choose it. I will do any thing, Nerissa, 
ere I’ll be married to a sponge. 

Ner. You need not fear, lady, the having any of 
these lords: they have acquainted me with their no 
determinations; which is, indeed, to return to their 
home and to trouble you with no more suit, unless you 
may be won by some other sort than your father’s 
imposition depending on the caskets. 

For. If I live to be as old as Sibylla, I will die as 
chaste as Diana, unless I be obtained by the manner 
of my father’s will. I am glad this parcel of wooers 
are so reasonable, for there is not one among them but 
I dote on his very absence, and I pray God grant them 120 
a fair departure. 

Ner. Do you not remember, lady, in your father’s 
time, a Venetian, a scholar and a soldier, that came 
hither in company of the Marquis of Montferrat? 


Line 95. an: if. 113. sort: lot. 115. Sibylla: the Cumaean 
Sibyl to whom Apollo granted as many years of life as she could 
hold grains of sand in her hand. 



Scene 3] THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 13 

Por. Yes, yes, it was Bassanio; as I think, he was so 
called. 

Ner. True, madam: he, of all the men that ever 
my foolish eyes looked upon, was the best deserving a 130 
fair lady. 

Por. I remember him well, and I remember him 
worthy of thy praise. 

Enter a Serving-man 
How now! what news? 

Serv. The four strangers seek for you, madam, to 
take their leave: and there is a forerunner come from 
a fifth, the Prince o f Morocco, who brings word the 
prince his master will be here to-night. 

Por. If I could bid the fifth welcome with so goodie 
a heart as I can bid the other four farewell, I should 
be glad of his approach: if he have the condition of a 
saint and the complexion of a devil, I had rather he 
should shrive me than wive me. 

Come, Nerissa. Sirrah, go before. 

Whiles we shut the gates upon one wooer, another 
knocks at the door. [Exeunt. 

Scene III — Venice. A public place 
Enter Bassanio and Shylock 

Shy. Three thousand ducats; well. 

Bass. Ay, sir, for three months. 


Line 125. Yes, yes. Note how quickly she recalls Bassanio’s 
name, and then tries to cover up the confession of interest by 
assuming uncertainty. 135. four strangers: an oversight; six 
were mentioned. 142. condition: disposition. 146. Whiles: while. 

A public place. Probably the open court adjoining the Ex¬ 
change, or Rialto, where the merchants met for business. The 
Rialto Bridge led to it across the Grand Canal. 1. well. Spoken 
reflectively. It was said of Kean that his triumph was assured 
after this entering speech, so characteristic was it. 






r 4 


THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 


[Act I 


Shy. For three months; well. 

Bass. For the which, as I told you, Antonio shall 
be bound. 

Shy. Antonio shall become bound; well. 

Bass. May you stead me? will you pleasure me? 
shall I know your answer? 

Shy. Three thousand ducats for three months and 
Antonio bound. io 

Bass. Your answer to that. 

Shy. Antonio is a good man. 

Bass. Have you heard any imputation to the con¬ 
trary? 

Shy. Oh, no, no, no, no: my meaning in saying he 
is a good man is to have you understand me that he is 
sufficient. Yet his means are in supposition: he hath 
an argosy bound to Tripolis, another to the Indies; I 
understand, moreover, upon the Rialto, he hath a 20 
third at Mexico, a fourth for England, and other ven¬ 
tures he hath, squandered abroad. But ships are but 
boards, sailors but men: there be land-rats and water- 
rats, water-thieves and land-thieves, I mean pirates, 
and then there is the peril of waters, winds and rocks. 
The man is, notwithstanding, sufficient. Three thou¬ 
sand ducats; I think I may take his bond. 

Bass. Be assured you may. 

Shy. I will be assured I may; and, that I may 30 
be assured, I will bethink me. May I speak with 
Antonio? 

Bass. If it please you to dine with us. 

Shy. Yes, to smell pork; to eat of the habitation 
which your prophet the Nazarite conjured the devil 
into. I will buy with you, sell with you, talk with you, 
walk with you, and so following, but I will not eat with 


Line 12. good: of good credit. 
Syria which traded with Venice. 


19. Tripolis: a seaport in 



Scene 3] THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 


J 5 

you, drink with you, nor pray with you. What news 
on the Rialto? Who is he comes here? 40 

Enter Antonio 
Bass. This is Signior Antonio. 

Shy. [Aside] How like a fawning publican he 
looks! 

I hate him for he is a Christian, 

But more for that in low simplicity 
He lends out money gratis and brings down 
The rate of usance here with us in Venice. 

If I can catch him once upon the hip, 

I will feed fat the ancient grudge I bear him. 

He hates our sacred nation, and he rails, 

Even there where merchants most do congregate, 50 
On me, my bargains and my well-won thrift, 

Which he calls interest. Cursed be my tribe, 

If I forgive him! 

Bass. Shylock, do you hear? 

Shy. I am debating of my present store, 

And, by the near guess of my memory, 

I cannot instantly raise up the gross 

Of full three thousand ducats. What of that? 

Tubal, a wealthy Hebrew of my tribe, 

Will furnish me. But soft! how many months 

Do you desire? [To Ant.] Rest you fair, good signior; 60 

Your worship was the last man in our mouths. 


Line 42. Aside. A good example of the Shakespearian use of 
the soliloquy. While Bassanio is greeting Antonio and they talk, 
Shylock turns his back on them, pretending to be absorbed in his 
reflections. 42 . fawning publican: publican was a common term 
of contempt; possibly fawning was suggested by Antonio’s friendly 
manner to Bassanio. 43-44. for, for that: because. 46. usance: 
usury. 60. “Here turn and with pretended surprise at Anto¬ 
nio’s presence, uncover and address him obsequiously but with a 
touch of irony.” — Booth. Rest youfair was a conventional greet¬ 
ing similar to the “God rest you merry” of the Christmas carol. 




White Studio 

Shylock: How like a fawning publican he looks! 

I hate him for he is a Christian. 



Scene 3] THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 17 

Ant. Shylock, although I neither lend nor borrow 
By taking nor by giving of excess, 

Yet, to supply the ripe wants of my friend, 

I’ll break a custom. Is he yet possess’d 
How much ye would? 

Shy. Ay, ay, three thousand ducats. 

Ant. And for three months. 

Shy. I had forgot; three months; you told me so. 
Well then, your bond; and let me see; but hear 
you; 

Methought you said you neither lend nor borrow 70 
Upon advantage. 

Ant. I do never use it. 

Shy. When Jacob grazed his uncle Laban’s 
sheep — 

This Jacob from our holy Abram was, 

As his wise mother wrought in his behalf, 

The third possessor; ay, he was the third — 

Ant. And what of him? did he take interest? 

Shy. No, not take interest, not, as you would say, 
Directly interest: mark what Jacob did. 

When Laban and himself were compromised 

That all the eanlings which were streak’d and pied 80 

Should fall as Jacob’s hire, 

The skilful shepherd pilled me certain wands 
And stuck them up before the fulsome ewes, 

Who then conceiving did in eaning time 

Fall parti-colour’d lambs, and those were Jacob’s. 

This was a way to thrive, and he was blest: 90 

And thrift is blessing, if men steal it not. 


Line 63. excess: amount over the sum lent, or, interest. 
65. possess'd: informed. 72. The story is found in Genesis, xxvii- 
xxx. 75. possessor: heir. 79. compromised: agreed. 80. ean¬ 
lings: little lambs. 82. pilled: peeled. The use of the dative 
me was an idiom of the day. 



18 THE MERCHANT OF VENICE [Act I 

Ant. This was a venture, sir, that Jacob served 
for; 

A thing not in his power to bring to pass, 

But sway’d and fashion’d by the hand of heaven. 

Was this inserted to make interest good? 

Or is your gold and silver ewes and rams? 

Shy. I cannot tell; I make it breed as fast: 

But note me, signior. 

Ant. Mark you this, Bassanio, 

The devil can cite Scripture for his purpose. 

An evil soul producing holy witness ioo 

Is like a villain with a smiling cheek, 

A goodly apple rotten at the heart: 

O, what a goodly outside falsehood hath! 

Shy. Three thousand ducats; ’tis a good round 
sum. 

Three months from twelve; then, let me see; the 
rate — 

Ant. Well, Shylock, shall we be beholding to you? 
Shy. Signior Antonio, many a time and oft 
In the Rialto you have rated me 
About my moneys and my usances: 

Still have I borne it with a patient shrug, iio 

For sufferance is the badge of all our tribe. 

You call me misbeliever, cut-throat dog, 

And spit upon my Jewish gaberdine, 

And all for use of that which is mine own. 

Well then, it now appears you need my help: 

Go to, then; you come to me, and you say 
“Shylock, we would have moneys:” you say so; 

You, that did void your rheum upon my beard 

And foot me as you spurn a stranger cur 

Over your threshold: moneys is your suit. 120 


Line 97. breed: by means of usury. 106. beholding: be¬ 
holden. 113. gaberdine: a long, loose cloak. 



White Studio 






WMm. 




W$m 




















































20 


THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 


[Act I 


What should I say to you? Should I not say 
“Hath a dog money? is it possible 
A cur can lend three thousand ducats?” Or 
Shall I bend low and in a bondman’s key, 

With bated breath and whispering humbleness, 

Say this: 

“Fair sir, you spit on me on Wednesday last; 

You spurn’d me such a day; another time 
You call’d me dog; and for these courtesies 
I’ll lend you thus much moneys?” 130 

Ant. I am as like to call thee so again, 

To spit on thee again, to spurn thee too. 

If thou wilt lend this money, lend it not 
As to thy friends; for when did friendship take 
A breed for barren metal of his friend? 

But lend it rather to thine enemy, 

Who, if he break, thou mayst with better face 
Exact the penalty. 

Shy. Why, look you, how you storm! 

I would be friends with you and have your love, 

Forget the shames that you have stain’d me with, 140 
Supply your present wants and take no doit 
Of usance for my moneys, and you’ll not hear me: 

This is kind I offer. 

Bass. This were kindness. 

Shy. This kindness will I show. 

Go with me to a notary, seal me there 
Your single bond; and, in a merry sport, 

If you repay me not on such a day, 

In such a place, such sum or sums as are 
Express’d in the condition, let the forfeit 


Line 137. Who: from whom. 141. doit: small coin. 
146. single: personal, without endorsers. Shylock is scheming 
to leave no loophole for Antonio, no endorsers to be called on 
in case he forfeits the bond, 




21 


Scene 3] THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 

Be nominated for an equal pound 150 

Of your fair flesh, to be cut off and taken 
In what part of your body pleaseth me. 

Ant. Content, i’ faith: I’ll seal to such a bond 
And say there is much kindness in the Jew. 

Bass. You shall not seal to such a bond for me: 

I’ll rather dwell in my necessity. 

Ant. Why, fear not, man; I will not forfeit it: 
Within these two months, that’s a month before 
This bond expires, I do expect return 
Of thrice three times the value of this bond. 160 

Shy. O father Abram, what these Christians are, 
Whose own hard dealings teaches them suspect 
The thoughts of others! Pray you, tell me this; 

If he should break his day, what should I gain 
By the exaction of the forfeiture? 

A pound of man’s flesh taken from a man 
Is not so estimable, profitable neither, 

As flesh of muttons, beefs, or goats. I say, 

To buy his favour, I extend this friendship: 

If he will take it, so; if not, adieu; 17° 

And, for my love, I pray you wrong me not. 

Ant. Yes, Shylock, I will seal unto this bond. 

Shy. Then meet me forthwith at the notary’s; 

Give him direction for this merry bond, 

And I will go and purse the ducats straight, 

See to my house, left in the fearful guard 
Of an unthrifty knave, and presently 
I will be with you. 

Ant. Hie thee, gentle Jew. [Exit Shylock. 

The Hebrew will turn Christian: he grows kind. 

Line 150. equal: equivalent. 162. teaches: Early English 

third person plural. 176. fearful: untrustworthy. 178. Booth, 
as Shylock, waited at one side of the stage until Antonio and 
Bassanio had gone out, looking back at them with an expression 
of intense hatred and a menacing gesture. This gave him a most 
impressive exit. 



22 


THE MERCHANT OF VENICE [Act II 


Bass. I like not fair terms and a villain’s mind. 180 
Ant. Come on: in this there can be no dismay; 

My ships come home a month before the day. 

[Exeunt. 


ACT II 

Scene I — Belmont. A room in Portia’s house 

Flourish of cornets. Enter the Prince of Morocco and his train; 
Portia, Nerissa, and others attending 

Mor. Mislike me not for my complexion, 

The shadow’d livery of the burnish’d sun, 

To whom I am a neighbour and near bred. 

Bring me the fairest creature northward born, 

Where Phoebus’ fire scarce thaws the icicles, 

And let us make incision for your love, 

To prove whose blood is reddest, his or mine. 

I tell thee, lady, this aspect of mine 

Hath fear’d the valiant: by my love, I swear 

The best-regarded virgins of our clime io 

Have loved it too: I would not change this hue, 

Except to steal your thoughts, my gentle queen. 

Bor. In terms of choice I am not solely led 
By nice direction of a maiden’s eyes; 

Besides, the lottery of my destiny 
Bars me the right of voluntary choosing: 

But if my father had not scanted me 
And hedged me by his wit, to yield myself 


The First Folio gives the stage direction: “Enter Morochus, 
a tawny Moore all in white and 3 or 4 followers accordingly.” 

Line i . com-plex-i-on. 8. as-pect. 9. fear’d: made to 
fear. 18. wit: wisdom. 




Scene i] THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 

His wife who wins me by that means I told you, 
Yourself, renowned prince, then stood as fair 
As any comer I have look’d on yet 
For my affection. 

Mor. Even for that I thank you: 

Therefore, I pray you, lead me to the caskets 
To try my fortune. By this scimitar 
That slew the Sophy and a Persian prince 
That won three fields of Sultan Solyman, 

I would outs tare the sternest eyes that look, 

Outbrave the heart most daring on the earth, 

Pluck the young sucking cubs from the she-bear, 

Yea, mock the lion when he roars for prey, 

To win thee, lady. But, alas the while! 

If Hercules and Lichas play at dice 
Which is the better man, the greater throw 
May turn by fortune from the weaker hand: 

So is Alcides beaten by his page; 

And so may I, blind fortune leading me, 

Miss that which one unworthier may attain, 

And die with grieving. 

For. You must take your chance, 

And either not attempt to choose at all 
Or swear before you choose, if you choose wrong 40 
Never to speak to lady afterward 
In way of marriage: therefore be advised. 

Mor. Nor will not. Come, bring me unto my 
chance. 

For. First, forward to the temple: after dinner 
Your hazard shall be made. 

Line 19. His, meaning of him, is the antecedent of who. 

25. Sophy: Shah of Persia. 26. Solyman, the Magnificent, of the 
early sixteenth century. Notice how th^se Moslem names give 
an oriental effect to this speech. 32. Lichas: attendant of Her¬ 
cules. They play (to decide) which is the better man. 42. ad¬ 
vised: prudent. 43. Nor will not: I promise I will not. 


23 


30 



24 


THE MERCHANT OF VENICE [Act II 

Mor. Good fortune then! 

To make me blest or cursed’st among men. 

\Cornets , and exeunt. 


Scene II — Venice. A street 
Enter Launcelot 

Laun. Certainly my conscience will serve me to 
run from this Jew my master. The fiend is at mine 
elbow and tempts me saying to me “Gobbo, Launcelot 
Gobbo, good Launcelot,” or “good Gobbo,” or “good 
Launcelot Gobbo, use your legs, take the start, run 
away.” My conscience says “No; take heed, honest 
Launcelot; take heed, honest Gobbo,” or, as afore¬ 
said, “honest Launcelot Gobbo; do not run; scorn 
running with thy heels.” Well, the most courageous 
fiend bids me pack: “Via!” says the fiend; “away!” 
says the fiend; “for the heavens, rouse up a brave 
mind,” says the fiend, “and run.” Well, my con¬ 
science, hanging about the neck of my heart, says very 
wisely to me “My honest friend Launcelot, being an 
honest man’s son,” or rather an honest woman’s son; 
for, indeed, my father did something smack, some¬ 
thing grow to, he had a kind of taste; well, my con¬ 
science says “Launcelot, budge not.” “Budge,” says 
the fiend. “Budge not,” says my conscience. “Con¬ 
science,” say I, “you counsel well;” “Fiend,” say I, 
“you counsel well:” to be ruled by my conscience, I 
should stay with the Jew my master, who, God bless 
the mark, is a kind of devil; and, to run away from 

Line 46. blest , for blessedest. 

9-10. scorn running with thy heels. A quibble, the heels being 
used for both running and kicking, n. via: away (Italian). 
19. grow to: phrase applied to milk burnt to the bottom of sauce 
pan; suggested dishonesty. 



Scene 2] THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 


25 

the Jew, I should be ruled by the fiend, who, saving 
your reverence, is the devil himself. Certainly the 
Jew is the very devil incarnal; and, in my conscience, 
my conscience is but a kind of hard conscience, to 30 
offer to counsel me to stay with the Jew. The fiend 
gives the more friendly counsel: I will run, fiend; 
my heels are at your command; I will run. 

Enter Old Gobbo, with a basket 

Gob. Master young man, you, I pray you, which 
is the way to master Jew’s? 

Laun. [Aside] O heavens, this is my true-be-gotten 
father! who, being more than sand-blind, high-gravel 
blind, knows me not: I will try confusions with him. 

Gob. Master young gentleman, I pray you, which 40 
is the way to master Jew’s? 

Laun. Turn up on your right hand at the next 
turning, but at the next turning of all, on your left; 
marry, at the very next turning, turn of no hand, but 
turn down indirectly to the Jew’s house. 

Gob. By God’s sonties, ’twill be a hard way to hit. 
Can you tell me whether one Launcelot, that dwells 
with him, dwell with him or no? 

Laun. Talk you of young Master Launcelot? 50 
[Aside\ Mark me now; now will I raise the waters. 
Talk you of young Master Launcelot? 

Gob. No master, sir, but a poor man’s son: his 
father, though I say it, is an honest exceeding poor 
man and, God be thanked, well to live. 

Line 29. incarnal: incarnate. The wrong use of words was 
a favorite form of humor. 37. sand: a corruption of sam, Old 
English word for half. Gravel-blind would be more than sand 
and less than stone (wholly) blind. 38. confusions: conclusions. 

44. marry: a mild form of swearing by the Virgin Mary. 46. son- 
ties: saints or “sanctes.” 50. Master: title applied only to those 
able to live without manual labor, with “the port, charge, and 
countenance of a gentleman.” 



26 THE MERCHANT OF VENICE [Act II 

Laun. Well, let his father be what a’ will, we talk 
of young Master Launcelot. 

Gob. Your worship’s friend and Launcelot, sir. 

Laun. But I pray you, ergo, old man, ergo, I be¬ 
seech you, talk you of young Master Launcelot? 60 

Gob. Of Launcelot, an’t please your mastership. 

Laun. Ergo, Master Launcelot. Talk not of Master 
Launcelot, father; for the young gentleman, accord¬ 
ing to Fates and Destinies and such odd sayings, the 
Sisters Three and such branches of learning, is indeed 
deceased, or, as you would say in plain terms, gone to 
heaven. 

Gob. Marry, God forbid! the boy was the very 
staff of my age, my very prop. 7 ° 

Laun. Do I look like a cudgel or a hovel-post, a 
staff or a prop? Do you know me, father? 

Gob. Alack the day, I know you not, young gentle¬ 
man: but I pray you, tell me, is my boy, God rest his 
soul, alive or dead? 

Laun. Do you not know me, father? 

Gob. Alack, sir, I am sand-blind; I know you not. 

Laun. Nay, indeed, if you had your eyes, you 
might fail of the knowing me: it is a wise father that 80 
knows his own child. Well, old man, I will tell you 
news of your son: give me your blessing: truth will 
come to light; murder cannot be hid long; a man’s 
son may, but at the length truth will out. 

Gob. Pray you, sir, stand up: I am sure you are 
not Launcelot, my boy. 

Laun. Pray you, let’s have no more fooling about 
it, but give me your blessing: I am Launcelot, your 
boy that was, your son that is, your child that shall 90 
be. 


Line 56. a’: he. 65. Sisters Three: the Fates. 72. father: 
a common form of address used by the young to elderly persons. 



27 


Scene 2] THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 

Gob. I cannot think you are my son. 

Laun. I know not what I shall think of that: but 
I am Launcelot, the Jew’s man, and I am sure Mar¬ 
gery your wife is my mother. 

Gob . Her name is Margery, indeed: I’ll be sworn, 
if thou be Launcelot, thou art mine own flesh and 
blood. Lord worshipped might he be! what a beard 
hast thou got! thou hast got more hair on thy chin 
than Dobbin my fill-horse has on his tail. 100 

Laun. It should seem, then, that Dobbin’s tail 
grows backward: I am sure he had more hair of his 
tail than I have of my face when I last saw him. 

Gob. Lord, how art thou changed! How dost thou 
and thy master agree? I have brought him a present. 
How ’gree you now? 

Laun. Well, well: but, for mine own part, as I 
have set up my rest to run away, so I will not rest till no 
I have run some ground. My master’s a very Jew: 
give him a present! give him a halter: I am famished 
in his service; you may tell every finger I have with 
my ribs. Father, I am glad you are come: give me 
your present to one Master Bassanio, who, indeed, 
gives rare new liveries: if I serve not him, I will run 
as far as God has any ground. O rare fortune! here 
comes the man: to him, father; for I am a Jew, if I 
serve the Jew any longer. 120 

Enter Bassanio, with Leonardo and other followers 

Bass. You may do so; but let it be so hasted that 
supper be ready at the farthest by five of the clock. 


Line 98. beard. Launcelot, kneeling, is bent over, presenting 
the back of his head to his father. 100. fill-: thill- or shaft- 
horse. no. set up my rest: backed my luck, a gambling term. 
114. me: the dative case. 118 .ground. There was not enough 
for one to be able to run far on it in Venice. 



28 


THE MERCHANT OF VENICE [Act II 


See these letters delivered; put the liveries to making, 
and desire Gratiano to come anon to my lodging. 

[Exit a Servant. 

Laun. To him, father. 

Gob. God bless your worship! 

Bass. Gramercy! wouldst thou aught with me? 

Gob. Here’s my son, sir, a poor boy, — 

Laun. Not a poor boy, sir, but the rich Jew’s man; 130 
that would, sir, as my father shall specify — 

Gob. He hath a great infection, sir, as one would 
say, to serve, — 

Laun. Indeed, the short and the long is, I serve the 
Jew, and have a desire, as my father shall specify — 
Gob. His master and he, saving your worship’s 
reverence, are scarce cater-cousins — 

Laun. To be brief, the very truth is that the Jew, 140 
having done me wrong, doth cause me, as my father, 
being, I hope, an old man, shall frutify unto you — 

Gob. I have here a dish of doves that I would 
bestow upon your worship, and my suit is — 

Laun. In very brief, the suit is impertinent to my¬ 
self, as your worship shall know by this honest old 
man; and, though I say it, though old man, yet poor 
man, my father. 

Bass. One speak for both. What would you? 150 
Laun. Serve you, sir. 

Gob. That is the very defect of the matter, sir. 

Bass. I know thee well; thou hast obtain’d thy 
suit: 

Shylock thy master spoke with me this day, 

And hath preferr’d thee, if it be preferment 


Line 128. Gramercy: literally “many thanks,” but used com¬ 
monly to express astonishment. 132. infection: affection, desire. 
139. cater-cousins: friendly persons. 143. dish of doves: a common 
present for countrymen to make. 



Scene 2] THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 


29 


To leave a rich Jew’s service, to become 
The follower of so poor a gentleman. 

Laun. The old proverb is very well parted between 
my master Shy lock and you, sir: you have the grace 
of God, sir, and he hath enough. 160 

Bass. Thou speak’st it well. Go, father, with thy 
son. 

Take leave of thy old master and inquire 
My lodging out. Give him a livery 
More guarded than his fellows’: see it done. 

Laun. Father, in. I cannot get a service, no; I 
have ne’er a tongue in my head. Well, if any man in 
Italy have a fairer table which doth offer to swear 
upon a book, I shall have good fortune. Go to, here’s 
a simple line of life: here’s a small trifle of wives: alas, 
fifteen wives is nothing! eleven widows and nine maids 170 
is a simple coming-in for one man: and then to ’scape 
drowning thrice, and to be in peril of my life with the 
edge of a feather-bed; here are simple scapes. Well, 
if Fortune be a woman, she’s a good wench for this 
gear. Father, come; I’ll take my leave of the Jew in 
the twinkling of an eye. 

[Exeunt Launcelot and Old Gobbo. 

Bass. I pray thee, good Leonardo, think on this: 
These things being bought and orderly bestow’d, 

Return in haste, for I do feast to-night 180 

My best-esteem’d acquaintance: hie thee, go. 

Leon. My best endeavours shall be done herein. 


Line 158. old proverb: “The grace of God is geir enough.” 
164. guarded: ornamented, striped. 167. table: in palmistry, 
the palm of the extended hand. The “line of life” was the line 
around the ball of the thumb or the “Mount of Venus,” and deep 
lines running between the two indicated the number of wives 
a man would have. 178. While the Gobbos talked, Bassanio 
had been giving orders to his servant. He now comes to the 
center of the stage. 



30 


THE MERCHANT OF VENICE [Act II 


Enter Gratiano 


Gra. 

Where is your master? 


Leon. 

Yonder, 

sir, he walks. [Exit. 

Gra. 

Signior Bassanio! 


Bass. 

Gratiano! 


Gra. 

I have a suit to you. 


Bass. 

You have obtain’d it. 

Gra. 

You must not deny me: 

I must go with you 


to Belmont. 

Bass. Why, then you must. But hear thee. 
Gratiano; 

Thou art too wild, too rude and bold of voice; 190 

Parts that become thee happily enough 
And in such eyes as ours appear not faults; 

But where thou art not known, why, there they show 

Something too liberal. Pray thee, take pain 

To allay with some cold drops of modesty 

Thy skipping spirit, lest through thy wild behaviour 

I be misconstrued in the place I go to 

And lose my hopes. 

Gra. Signior Bassanio, hear me: 

If I do not put on a sober habit, 

Talk with respect and swear but now and then, 200 
Wear prayer-books in my pocket, look demurely, 

Nay more, while grace is saying, hood mine eyes 
Thus with my hat, and sigh and say “amen, 55 
Use all the observance of civility, 

Like one well studied in a sad ostent 
To please his grandam, never trust me more. 

Bass. Well, we shall see your bearing. 


Line i 90. Notice that thou is used for you in this scene in the 
French fashion, that is, in speaking to dependents, children, and 
intimate friends informally. 203. It was the mode to wear hats 
at dinner. 205. sad ostent: grave manner. 



Scene 3] THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 31 

Gra. Nay, but I bar to-night: you shall not 
gauge me 

By what we do to-night. 

Bass. No, that were pity: 

I would entreat you rather to put on 210 

Your boldest suit of mirth, for we have friends 
That purpose merriment. But fare you well: 

I have some business. 

Gra. And I must to Lorenzo and the rest: 

But we will visit you at supper-time. [Exeunt. 

Scene III — The same. A room in Shylock’s house 
Enter Jessica and Launcelot 

Jes. I am sorry thou wilt leave my father so: 

Our house is hell, and thou, a merry devil, 

Didst rob it of some taste of tediousness. 

But fare thee well, there is a ducat for thee: 

And, Launcelot, soon at supper shalt thou see 
Lorenzo, who is thy new master’s guest: 

Give him this letter; do it secretly; 

And so farewell: I would not have my father 
See me in talk with thee. 

Laun. Adieu! tears exhibit my tongue. Most 10 
beautiful pagan, most sweet Jew! But, adieu: these 
foolish drops do something drown my manly spirit: 
adieu. 

Jes. Farewell, good Launcelot. [Exit Launcelot. 

Alack, what heinous sin is it in me 
To be ashamed to be my father’s child! 

But though I am a daughter to his blood, 

I am not to his manners. O Lorenzo, 

If thou keep promise, I shall end this strife, 20 

Become a Christian and thy loving wife. [Exit. 

Line 19. manners: ways of life, as in “manners and customs.” 



32 


THE MERCHANT OF VENICE [Act II 

Scene IV — The same. A street 
Enter Gratiano, Lorenzo, Salarino, and Salanio 

Lor. Nay, we will slink away in supper-time, 
Disguise us at my lodging and return, 

All in an hour. 

Gra. We have not made good preparation. 

Salar. We have not spoke us yet of torch-bearers. 

Salan. ’Tis vile, unless it may be quaintly order’d, 
And better in my mind not undertook. 

Lor. ’Tis now but four o’clock: we have two hours 
To furnish us. 

Enter Launcelot, with a letter 

Friend Launcelot, what’s the news? 

Laun. An it shall please you to break up this, it 
shall seem to signify. 

Lor. I know the hand: in faith, ’tis a fair hand; 
And whiter than the paper it writ on 
Is the fair haQd that writ. 

Gra. Love-news, in faith. 

Laun. By your leave, sir. 

Lor. Whither goest thou? 

Laun. Marry, sir, to bid my old master the Jew to 
sup to-night with my new master the Christian. 

Lor. Hold here, take this: tell gentle Jessica 
I will not fail her; speak it privately. 

Go, gentlemen, [Exit Launcelot. 

Will you prepare you for this masque to-night? 

I am provided of a torch-bearer. 

Line 5. spoke of: spoken for, engaged. 5. us: for us (dative). 
6. quaintly: prettily. 10. break up: break the seal. 22. Ben 
Greet has effective stage business here: “Lorenzo gives him 
a coin. Launcelot is getting rich. He tosses it, bows, and goes 
across to R.C. He here bumps, bowing, accidentally against Gra¬ 
tiano. He turns, hints that his injuries deserve a tip, but not getting 
one, he walks in a very dignified manner across stage to house, makes 
an elaborate bow and exits. All laugh as he goes off. then consult 
together.” 24. of: with. 



Scene 5] 


THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 


33 


Salar. Ay, marry, I’ll be gone about it straight. 
Salan. And so will I. 

Lor. Meet me and Gratiano 

At Gratiano’s lodging some hour hence. 

Salar. ’Tis good we do so. 

[Exeunt Salar. and Salan. 
Gra. Was not that letter from fair Jessica? 

Lor. I must needs tell thee all. She hath directed 
How I shall take her from her father’s house, 

What gold and jewels she is furnish’d with, 

What page’s suit she hath in readiness. 

If e’er the Jew her father come to heaven, 

It will be for his gentle daughter’s sake: 

And never dare misfortune cross her foot, 

Unless she do it under this excuse, 

That she is issue to a faithless Jew. 

Come, go with me; peruse this as thou goest: 

Fair Jessica shall be my torch-bearer. [Exeunt. 

Scene V — The same. Before Shylock’s house 
Enter Shylock and Launcelot 

Shy. Well, thou shalt see, thy eyes shall be thy 
judge, 

The difference of old Shylock and Bassanio: — 

What, Jessica! — thou shalt not gormandise, 

As thou hast done with me: — What, Jessica! — 

And sleep and snore, and rend apparel out; — 

Why, Jessica, I say! 

Laun. Why, Jessica! 

Shy. Who bids thee call? I do not bid thee call. 
Laun. Your worship was wont to tell me that I 
could do nothing without bidding. 

Line 37. she: Misfortune, personified. 38. faithless: lacking 
the true faith. 

2. of: between, 



* 


34 THE MERCHANT OF VENICE [Act II 

Enter Jessica 

Jes. Call you? what is your will? io 

Shy. I am bid forth to supper, Jessica: 

There are my keys. But wherefore should I go? 

I am not bid for love; they flatter me: 

But yet I’ll go in hate, to feed upon 
The prodigal Christian. Jessica, my girl, 

Look to my house. I am right loath to go: 

There is some ill a-brewing towards my rest, 

For I did dream of money-bags to-night. 

Laun. I beseech you, sir, go: my young master 
doth expect your reproach. 20 

Shy. So do I his. 

Laun. And they have conspired together, I will 
not say you shall see a masque; but if you do, then 
it was not for nothing that my nose fell a-bleeding 
on Black-Monday last at six o’clock i’ the morning, 
falling out that year on Ash-Wednesday was four year, 
in the afternoon. 

Shy. What, are there masques? Hear you me, 
Jessica: 

Lock up my doors; and when you hear the drum 
And the vile squealing of the wry-neck’d fife, 30 

Clamber not you up to the casements then, 

Nor thrust your head into the public street 


Line 12. my keys. Dramatic irony. While he is offering them, 
the audience knows that she will use them to steal from him. 
16. His presentiment of evil reminds us of Antonio’s, Act I. 1. 
18. to-night: last night. 25. Black-Monday. On Easter Monday, 
April 14, 1360, “King Edwarde with his hoast lay before the 
cittie of Paris: which day was full darke of mist and haile, and 
so bitter cold that many men died on their horses backs with the 
cold. Wherefore unto this day it hath been called Blacke Mon¬ 
day.” — Stow. 28. masques: short plays or pageants played in 
masks. 30. wry-neck’d fife: “A fife is a wry-neckt musician, for 
he always looks away from his instrument.” — Rich’s Aphorisms. 




Scene 5] THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 


35 


To gaze on Christian fools with varnish’d faces, 

But stop my house’s ears, I mean my casements: 

Let not the sound of shallow foppery enter 
My sober house. By Jacob’s staff, I swear, 

I have no mind of feasting forth to-night: 

But I will go. Go you before me, sirrah; 

Say I will come. 

Laun. I will go before, sir. Mistress, look out at 
window, for all this; 

There will come a Christian by, 

Will be worth a Jewess’ eye. [Exit. 

Shy. What says that fool of Hagar’s offspring, 
ha? 

Jes. His words were “Farewell mistress;” nothing 
else. 

Shy. The patch is kind enough, but a huge feeder; 
Snail-slow in profit, and he sleeps by day 
More than the wild-cat; drones hive not with me; 
Therefore I part with him, and part with him 
To one that I would have him help to waste 
His borrow’d purse. Well, Jessica, go in: 

Perhaps I will return immediately: 

Do as I bid you; shut doors after you: 

Fast bind, fast find; 

A proverb never stale in thrifty mind. [Exit. 

Jes. Farewell; and if my fortune be not crost, 

I have a father, you a daughter, lost. [Exit. 


Line 33. varnish’d faces: probably refers to painted masks. 
43. Jewess'. An old saying “worth a Jew’s eye” meant some¬ 
thing valuable. 44. Hagar, the maid of Sarah, Abraham’s wife, 
ran away from service. 46. patch: wearer of motley, hence a 
term of contempt. 52. Note Shylock’s suspicions and how he 
forbids her all youthful pleasures, — her best excuse. 54-57. The 
rhymes mark the end of the scene. 



36 


THE MERCHANT OF VENICE [Act II 


Scene VI — The Same 
Enter Gratiano and Salarino masqued 
Gra. This is the pent-house under which Lorenzo 
Desired us to make stand. 

Salar. His hour is almost past. 

Gra. And it is marvel he out-dwells his hour, 

For lovers ever run before the clock. 

Salar. O, ten times faster Venus’ pigeons fly 
To seal love’s bonds new-made, than they are wont 
To keep obliged faith unforfeited! 

Gra. That ever holds: who riseth from a feast 
With that keen appetite that he sits down? 

Where is the horse that doth untread again 
His tedious measures with the unbated fire 
That he did pace them first? All things that are, 

Are with more spirit chased than enjoy’d. 

How like a younker or a prodigal 

The scarfed bark puts from her native bay, 

Hugg’d and embraced by the wanton wind! 

How like the prodigal doth she return, 

With over-weather’d ribs and ragged sails, 

Lean, rent and beggar’d by the wanton wind! 

Salar. Here comes Lorenzo: more of this here¬ 
after. 

Enter Lorenzo 

Lor. Sweet friends, your patience for my long 
abode; 

Not I, but my affairs, have made you wait: 

When you shall please to play the thieves for wives, 

In some editions there is no scene division here. There is, of 
course, no change of scene; but on the stage, to indicate the 
passage of time, maskers enter with music and sometimes dancing. 
It is growing dusk, so lights appear here and there. 

Line r. Venus’ chariot was drawn by doves. 15. scarfed: be- 
flagged. 



Scene 6 ] THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 


37 


I’ll watch as long for you then. Approach; 

Here dwells my father Jew. Ho! who’s within? 

Enter Jessica, above , in boy's clothes 

Jes. Who are you? Tell me, for more certainty, 
Albeit I’ll swear that I do know your tongue. 

Lor. Lorenzo, and thy love. 

Jes. Lorenzo, certain, and my love indeed, 

For who love I so much? And now who knows 30 
But you, Lorenzo, whether I am yours? 

Lor. Heaven and thy thoughts are witness that 
thou art. 

Jes. Here, catch this casket; it is worth the pains. 

I am glad ’tis night, you do not look on me, 

For I am much ashamed of my exchange: 

But love is blind and lovers cannot see 
The pretty follies that themselves commit; 

For if they could, Cupid himself would blush 
To see me thus transformed to a boy. 

Lor. Descend, for you must be my torch-bearer. 40 
Jes. What, must I hold a candle to my shames? 
They in themselves, good sooth, are too too light. 

Why, ’tis an office of discovery, love; 

And I should be obscured. 

Lor. So are you, sweet, 

Even in the lovely garnish of a boy. 

But come at once; 

For the close night doth play the runaway, 

And we are stay’d for at Bassanio’s feast. 

Jes. I will make fast the doors, and gild myself 
With some more ducats, and be with you straight. 50 

[Exit above. 

Line 24. I'll watch / as long / for you j then. (Pause) / Ap¬ 
proach./ 25. above: on a balcony. 35. exchange: change of 
dress. 42. light: possibly either bright or frivolous. 47. close: 
concealing. 



38 THE MERCHANT OF VENICE [Act II 

Gra. Now, by my hood, a Gentile and no Jew. 
Lor. Beshrew me but I love her heartily; 

For she is wise, if I can judge of her, 

And fair she is, if that mine eyes be true, 

And true she is, as she hath proved herself, 

And therefore, like herself, wise, fair and true, 

Shall she be placed in my constant soul. 

Enter Jessica, below 

What, art thou come? On, gentlemen; away! 

Our masquing mates by this time for us stay. 

[Exit with Jessica and Salarino. 

Enter Antonio 

Ant. Who’s there? 

Gra. Signior Antonio! 

Ant. Fie, fie, Gratiano! where are all the rest? 

’Tis nine o’clock: our friends all stay for you. 

No masque to-night: the wind is come about; 
Bassanio presently will go aboard: 

I have sent twenty out to seek for you. 

Gra. I am glad on’t: I desire no more delight 
Than to be under sail and gone to-night. [Exeunt. 


Scene VII — Belmont. A room in Portia’s house 
Flourish of cornets. Enter Portia, with the Prince of Morocco, 
and their trains 

Por. Go, draw aside the curtains and discover 
The several caskets to this noble prince. 

Now make your choice. 

Mor. The first, of gold, who this inscription bears, 
“Who chooseth me shall gain what many men desire;” 

Line 51. hood, of his masking costume, possibly a monk’s frock. 
64. presently: at once. 66. on, used for “of.” 

4. who and which were interchangeable. 


60 




Scene 7] THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 


39 


The second, silver, which this promise carries, 

“Who chooseth me shall get as much as he deserves;” 
This third, dull lead, with warning all as blunt, 
“Who chooseth me must give and hazard all he hath.” 
How shall I know if I do choose the right? 

Por. The one of them contains my picture, prince: 
If you choose that, then I am yours withal. 

Mor. Some god direct my judgement! Let me 
see; 

I will survey the inscriptions back again. 

What says this leaden casket? 

“Who chooseth me must give and hazard all he 
hath.” 

Must give: for what? for lead? hazard for lead? 

This casket threatens. Men that hazard all 
Do it in hope of fair advantages: 

A golden mind stoops not to shows of dross; 

I’ll then nor give nor hazard aught for lead. 

What says the silver with her virgin hue? 

“Who chooseth me shall get as much as he deserves.” 
As much as he deserves! Pause there, Morocco, 

And weigh thy value with an even hand: 

If thou be’st rated by thy estimation, 

Thou dost deserve enough; and yet enough 
May not extend so far as to the lady: 

And yet to be afeard of my deserving 
Were but a weak disabling of myself. 

As much as I deserve! Why, that’s the lady: 

I do in birth deserve her, and in fortunes, 

In graces and in qualities of breeding; 

But more than these, in love I do deserve. 

What if I stray’d no further, but chose here? 

Let’s see once more this saying graved in gold; 

“Who chooseth me shall gain what many men 
desire.” 


THE MERCHANT OF VENICE [Act II 


40 

Why, that’s the lady; all the world desires her; 

From the four corners of the earth they come, 

To kiss this shrine, this mortal breathing saint: 40 

The Hyrcanian deserts and the vasty wilds 
Of wide Arabia are as throughfares now 
For princes to come view fair Portia: 

The watery kingdom, whose ambitious head 
Spits in the face of heaven, is no bar 
To stop the foreign spirits, but they come, 

As o’er a brook, to see fair Portia. 

One of these three contains her heavenly picture. 

Is’t like that lead contains her? ’Twere damnation 
To think so base a thought: it were too gross 50 

To rib her cerecloth in the obscure grave. 

Or shall I think in silver she’s immured, 

Being ten times undervalued to tried gold? 

O sinful thought! Never so rich a gem 
Was set in worse than gold. They have in England 
A coin that bears the figure of an angel 
Stamped in gold, but that’s insculp’d upon; 

But here an angel in a golden bed 
Lies all within. Deliver me the key: 

Here do I choose, and thrive I as I may! 60 

For. There, take it, prince; and if my form lie 
there, 

Then I am yours. [He unlocks the golden casket. 

Mor. O hell! what have we here? 

A carrion Death, within whose empty eye 
There is a written scroll! I ’ll read the writing. 

Line 41. Hyrcanian deserts: south of the Caspian Sea, where 
tigers live. Notice the oriental exaggeration in this speech, the 
names of unknown, distant places which give it a romantic, 
foreign air, and its lyrical reiteration of Portia’s name. 51. rib 
her cerecloth: inclose her shroud. Cerecloth was a plaster made of 
wax. 51. obscure: dark. 56. angel: a gold coin stamped with 
the figure of St. Michael, worth about ten shillings. 63. carrion 
Death: skull. 



Scene 8 ] THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 41 

[Reads] All that glisters is not gold; 

Often have you heard that told: 

Many a man his life hath sold 
But my outside to behold: 

Gilded tombs do worms infold. 

Had you been as wise as bold, 

Young in limbs, in judgement old, 

Your answer had not been inscroll’d: 

Fare you well; your suit is cold. 

Cold, indeed; and labour lost: 

Then, farewell, heat, and welcome, frost! 
Portia, adieu. I have too grieved a heart 
To take a tedious leave: thus losers part. 

[Exit with his train. Flourish of cornets. 
For. A gentle riddance. Draw the curtains, go. 
Let all of his complexion choose me so. [Exeunt. 


Scene VIII — Venice. A street 
Enter Salarino and Salanio 

Salar. Why, man, I saw Bassanio under sail: 

With him is Gratiano gone along; 

And in their ship I am sure Lorenzo is not. 

Salan. The villain Jew with outcries raised the 
duke, 

Who went with him to search Bassanio’s ship. 

Salar. He came too late, the ship was under sail: 
But there the duke was given to understand 
That in a gondola were seen together 
Lorenzo and his amorous Jessica: 

Besides, Antonio certified the duke 
They were not with Bassanio in his ship. 


Line 75. welcome , frost! “Farewell, frost!” was a common re¬ 
mark when something unpleasant departed. 



42 


THE MERCHANT OF VENICE [Act II 


Salan. I never heard a passion so confused, 

So strange, outrageous, and so variable, 

As the dog Jew did utter in the streets: 

“My daughter! O my ducats! O my daughter! 

Fled with a Christian! O my Christian ducats! 

Justice! the law! my ducats, and my daughter! 

A sealed bag, two sealed bags of ducats, 

Of double ducats, stolen from me by my daughter! 

And jewels, two stones, two rich and precious stones, 20 
Stolen by my daughter! Justice! find the girl; 

She hath the stones upon her, and the ducats.” 

Salar. Why, all the boys in Venice follow him, 
Crying, his stones, his daughter, and his ducats. 

Salan. Let good Antonio look he keep his day, 

Or he shall pay for this. 

Salar. Marry, well remember’d. 

I reason’d with a Frenchman yesterday, 

Who told me, in the narrow seas that part 
The French and English, there miscarried 
A vessel of our country richly fraught: 30 

I thought upon Antonio when he told me; 

And wish’d in silence that it were not his. 

Salan. You were best to tell Antonio what you 
hear; 

Yet do not suddenly, for it may grieve him. 

Salar. A kinder gentleman treads not the earth. 

I saw Bassanio and Antonio part: 

Bassanio told him he would make some speed 
Of his return: he answer’d, “Do not so; 

Slubber not business for my sake, Bassanio, 

But stay the very riping of the time; 40 

And for the Jew’s bond which he hath of me, 

Let it not enter in your mind of love: 

Line 27. reason’d: conversed. 33. you were best: it would be 
best for you. 39. slubber: slight. 



Scene 9] THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 


43 


Be merry, and employ your chiefest thoughts 
To courtship and such fair ostents of love 
As shall conveniently become you there:” 

And even there, his eye being big with tears, 

Turning his face, he put his hand behind him, 

And with affection wondrous sensible 
He wrung Bassanio’s hand; and so they parted. 

Salan. I think he only loves the world for him. 50 
I pray thee, let us go and find him out 
And quicken his embraced heaviness 
With some delight or other. 

Salar. Do we so. [Exeunt. 


Scene IX — Belmont. A room in Portia’s house 
Enter Nerissa with a Servitor 

Ner. Quick, quick, I pray thee; draw the curtain 
straight: 

The Prince of Arragon hath ta’en his oath, 

And comes to his election presently. 

Flourish of cornets. Enter the Prince of Arragon, Portia, 
and their trains 

Por. Behold, there stand the caskets, noble prince: 

If you choose that wherein I am contain’d, 

Straight shall our nuptial rites be solemnized: 

But if you fail, without more speech, my lord, 

You must be gone from hence immediately. 

Ar. I am enjoin’d by oath to observe three things: 
First, never to unfold to any one 10 

Which casket ’twas I chose; next, if I fail 
Of the right casket, never in my life 
To woo a maid in way of marriage: 


Line 44. ostents: shows. 48. sensible: moved. 52. embraced 
heaviness: sadness which he hugs to himself. 



THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 


[Act II 


44 

Lastly, 

If I do fail in fortune of my choice, 

Immediately to leave you and be gone. 

Por. To these injunctions every one doth swear 
That comes to hazard for my worthless self. 

Ar. And so have I address’d me. Fortune now 
To my heart’s hope! Gold; silver; and base lead. 20 
“Who chooseth me must give and hazard all he hath.” 
You shall look fairer, ere I give or hazard. 

What says the golden chest? ha! let me see: 

“Who chooseth me shall gain what many men desire.” 
What many men desire! that “many” may be meant 
By the fool multitude, that choose by show, 

Not learning more than the fond eye doth teach; 

Which pries not to the interior, but, like the martlet, 
Builds in the weather on the outward wall, 

Even in the force and road of casualty. 3 ° 

I will not choose what many men desire, 

Because I will not jump with common spirits 
And rank me with the barbarous multitudes. 

Why, then to thee, thou silver treasure-house; 

Tell me once more what title thou dost bear: 

“Who chooseth me shall get as much as he deserves:” 

And well said too; for who shall go about 

To cozen fortune and be honourable 

Without the stamp of merit? Let none presume 

To wear an undeserved dignity. 4° 

O, that estates, degrees and offices 

Were not derived corruptly, and that clear honour 

Were purchased by the merit of the wearer! 

How many then should cover that stand bare! 

How many be commanded that command! 

How much low peasantry would then be glean’d 

Line 19. address'd: prepared. 44. cover: keep their hats on. 

44. bare: bareheaded. 





Scene 9] THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 


45 

From the true seed of honour! and how much honour 
Pick’d from the chaff and ruin of the times 
To be new-varnish’d! Well, but to my choice: 

“Who chooseth me shall get as much as he deserves. ” 50 
I will assume desert. Give me a key for this, 

And instantly unlock my fortunes here. 

[He opens the silver casket. 
Por. Too long a pause for that which you find 
there. 

Ar. What’s here? the portrait of a blinking 
idiot, 

Presenting me a schedule! I will read it. 

How much unlike art thou to Portia! 

How much unlike my hopes and my deservings! 

“Who chooseth me shall have as much as he deserves.” 
Did I deserve no more than a fool’s head? 

Is that my prize? are my deserts no better? 60 

Por. To offend, and judge, are distinct offices 
And of opposed natures. 

Ar. What is here? 

[Reads'] The fire seven times tried this: 

Seven times tried that judgement is. 

That did never choose amiss. 

Some there be that shadows kiss; 

Such have but a shadow’s bliss: 

There be fools alive, I wis, 

Silver’d o’er; and so was this. 

I will ever be your head: 71 

So be gone: you are sped. 

Still more fool I shall appear 
By the time I linger here: 


Lines 61-62. Portia means that he should not expect to be the 
judge of his own case. 68. I wis: corruption of ywiss, certainly. 



46 THE MERCHANT OF VENICE [Act II 

With one fool’s head I came to woo, 

But I go away with two. 

Sweet, adieu. I’ll keep my oath, 

Patiently to bear my wroth. 

[Exeunt Arragon and train . 

For . Thus hath the candle singed the moth. 

O, these deliberate fools! when they do choose, 80 

They have the wisdom by their wit to lose. 

JSfer. The ancient saying is no heresy. 

Hanging and wiving goes by destiny. 

For. Come, draw the curtain, Nerissa. 

Enter a Servant 
Serv. Where is my lady? 

For. Here: what would my lord? 

Serv. Madam, there is alighted at your gate 
A young Venetian, one that comes before 
To signify the approaching of his lord; 

From whom he bringeth sensible regreets, 

To wit, besides commends and courteous breath, 90 
Gifts of rich value. Yet I have not seen 
So likely an ambassador of love: 

A day in April never came so sweet, 

To show how costly summer was at hand, 

As this fore-spurrer comes before his lord. 

For. No more, I pray thee: I am half afeard 
Thou wilt say anon he is some kin to thee, 

Thou spend’st such high-day wit in praising him. 

Come, come, Nerissa; for I long to see 
Quick Cupid’s post that comes so mannerly. 100 

Ner. Bassanio, lord Love, if thy will it be! 

[ Exeunt. 

Line 85. my lord. Portia is mimicking the servant’s “my lady.” 
She is in high spirits, having got rid of her undesired suitors. 

89. sensible regreets: greetings with substance to them, gifts. 

98. high-day: holiday. 




Scene i] 


THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 


47 


ACT III 

Scene I — Venice. A street 
Enter Salanio and Salarino 

Salan. Now, what news on the Rialto? 

Salar. Why, yet it lives there unchecked that 
Antonio hath a ship of rich lading wrecked on the 
narrow seas: the Goodwins, I think they call the 
place; a very dangerous flat and fatal, where the car¬ 
cases of many a tall ship lie buried, as they say, if 
my gossip Report be an honest woman of her word. 

Salan. I would she were as lying a gossip in that as 
ever knapped ginger or made her neighbours believe io 
she wept for the death of a third husband. But it is 
true, without any slips of prolixity or crossing the plain 
highway of talk, that the good Antonio, the honest 

Antonio,-O that I had a title good enough to 

keep his name company! — 

Salar. Come, the full stop. 

Salan. Ha! what sayest thou? Why, the end is, 
he hath lost a ship. 

Salar. I would it might prove the end of his losses. 20 

Salan. Let me say “amen” betimes, lest the devil 
cross my prayer, for here he comes in the likeness of a 

J eW ‘ Enter Shylock 

How now, Shylock! what news among the merchants? 

Shy. You knew, none so well, none so well as you, 
of my daughter’s flight. 

The nine scenes of Act II have brought the time of the action 

to within a fortnight of the maturity of the bond. 

Line 2. it: refers to the rumor. 4. Goodwins: Goodwin Sands, 
off the Kentish coast. 10. knapped: gnawed. Enter Shylock. 
The loss of his daughter, the jeering of the boys on the street, the 
importunities of all Antonio’s friends, even to the Doge himself, 
and the near approach of his time for revenge, have evidently 
brought him close to hysteria. 




48 


THE MERCHANT OF VENICE [Act III 


Solar. That’s certain: I, for my part, knew the 
tailor that made the wings she flew withal. 30 

Solan. And Shylock, for his own part, knew the 
bird was fledged; and then it is the complexion of 
them all to leave the dam. 

Shy. She is damned for it. 

Solar. That’s certain, if the devil may be her 
judge. 

Shy. My own flesh and blood to rebel! 

Solan. Out upon it, old carrion! rebels it at these 
years? 

Shy. I say, my daughter is my flesh and blood. 40 

Solar. There is more difference between thy flesh 
and hers than between jet and ivory; more between 
your bloods than there is between red wine and rhen- 
ish. But tell us, do you hear whether Antonio have 
had any loss at sea or no? 

Shy. There I have another bad match: a bank¬ 
rupt, a prodigal, who dare scarce show his head on 
the Rialto; a beggar, that was used to come so smug 
upon the mart; let him look to his bond: he was wont 
to call me usurer; let him look to his bond: he was 50 
wont to lend money for a Christian courtesy; let him 
look to his bond. 

Solar. Why, I am sure, if he forfeit, thou wilt not 
take his flesh: what’s that good for? 

Shy. To bait fish withal: if it will feed nothing 
else, it will feed my revenge. He hath disgraced me, 
and hindered me half a million; laughed at my losses, 
mocked at my gains, scorned my nation, thwarted 


Line 30. wings, i.e., the page’s dress. 32. complexion: na¬ 
ture. 43. rhenish: a white wine. 56-76. This speech states 
Shylock’s motive, hate inspired by his wrongs, and his purpose, 
revenge. When recited by a great actor, it has a terrible gran¬ 
deur. 



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5 o THE MERCHANT OF VENICE [Act III 

my bargains, cooled my friends, heated mine enemies; 
and what’s his reason? I am a Jew. Hath not a Jew 60 
eyes? hath not a Jew hands, organs, dimensions, senses, 
affections, passions? fed with the same food, hurt with 
the same weapons, subject to the same diseases, healed 
by the same means, warmed and cooled by the same 
winter and summer, as a Christian is? If you prick 
us, do we not bleed? if you tickle us, do we not laugh? 
if you poison us, do we not die? and if you wrong us, 
shall we not revenge? If we are like you in the rest, 70 
we will resemble you in that. If a Jew wrong a Chris¬ 
tian, what is his humility? Revenge. If a Chris¬ 
tian wrong a Jew, what should his sufferance be by 
Christian example? Why, revenge. The villany you 
teach me, I will execute, and it shall go hard but I 
will better the instruction. 

Enter a Servant 

Sew. Gentlemen, my master Antonio is at his 
house and desires to speak with you both. 

Salar. We have been up and down to seek him. 

Enter Tubal 

Salon. Here comes another of the tribe: a third 80 
cannot be matched, unless the devil himself turn 
Jew. [ Exeunt Salan., Salar., and Servant. 

Shy. How now, Tubal! what news from Genoa? 
hast thou found my daughter? 

Tub. I often came where I did hear of her, but 
cannot find her. 

Shy. Why, there, there, there, there! a diamond 
gone, cost me two thousand ducats in Frankfort! 
The curse never fell upon our nation till now; I 
never felt it till now: two thousand ducats in that; 90 
and other precious, precious jewels. I would my 


Scene i] THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 


51 

daughter were dead at my foot, and the jewels in her 
ear! would she were hearsed at my foot, and the ducats 
in her coffin! No news of them? Why, so: and I 
know not what’s spent in the search: why, thou loss 
upon loss! the thief gone with so much, and so much 
to find the thief; and no satisfaction, no revenge: 
nor no ill luck stirring but what lights on my shoulders; 100 
no sighs but of my breathing; no tears but of my 
shedding. 

Tub. Yes, other men have ill luck too: Antonio, 
as I heard in Genoa, — 

Shy. What, what, what? ill luck, ill luck? 

Tub. Hath an argosy cast away, coming from 
Tripolis. 

Shy. I thank God, I thank God. Is’t true, is’t 
true? 

Tub. I spoke with some of the sailors that escaped 
the wreck. no 

Shy. I thank thee, good Tubal: good news, good 
news! ha, ha! where? in Genoa? 

Tub. Your daughter spent in Genoa, as I heard, 
in one night fourscore ducats. 

Shy. Thou stickest a dagger in me: I shall never 
see my gold again: fourscore ducats at a sitting! 
fourscore ducats! 

Tub. There came divers of Antonio’s creditors in 
my company to Venice, that swear he cannot choose 
but break. 120 

Shy. I am very glad of it: I’ll plague him; I’ll 
torture him: I am glad of it. 

Tub. One of them showed me a ring that he had 
of your daughter for a monkey. 

Line 92. These wild words do not express Shylock’s real feeling 
towards his daughter, but rather the hysteria of the moment. 

124. Monkeys were favorite pets of the rich and fashionable, — 
not an unnatural purchase, but high-priced. 



52 


THE MERCHANT OF VENICE [Act III 


Shy. Out upon her! Thou torturest me, Tubal: 
it was my turquoise; I had it of Leah when I was a 
bachelor: I would not have given it for a wilderness 
of monkeys. 

Tub. But Antonio is certainly undone. 

Shy. Nay, that’s true, that’s very true. Go,i 
Tubal, fee me an officer; bespeak him a fortnight 
before. I will have the heart of him, if he forfeit; 
for, were he out of Venice, I can make what mer¬ 
chandise I will. Go, go, Tubal, and meet me at our 
synagogue; go, good Tubal; at our synagogue, 
Tubal. [Exeunt. 

Scene II — Belmont. A room in Portia’s house 
Enter Bassanio, Portia, Gratiano, Nerissa, 
and Attendants 

Por. I pray you, tarry: pause a day or two 
Before you hazard; for, in choosing wrong, 

I lose your company: therefore forbear awhile. 
There’s something tells me, but it is not love, 

I would not lose you; and you know yourself, 

Hate counsels not in such a quality. 

But lest you should not understand me well, — 

And yet a maiden hath no tongue but thought, — 

I would detain you here some month or two 
Before you venture for me. I could teach you 
How to choose right, but I am then forsworn; 

So will I never be: so may you miss me; 

But if you do, you’ll make me wish a sin, 

That I had been forsworn. Beshrew your eyes, 

Line 13 i. fee: a retainer, evidently. 

This is the famous Casket Scene in which three threads of the 
plot are gathered in Portia’s hands. The fortnight is now past 
and the bond is forfeit, but Bassanio thinks of nothing but his love. 

6. quality: manner. 



Scene 2 ] THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 


53 


They have o’erlook’d me and divided me; 

One half of me is yours, the other half yours, 

Mine own, I would say; but if mine, then yours, 

And so all yours. O, these naughty times 
Put bars between the owners and their rights! 

And so, though yours, not yours. Prove it so, 20 

Let fortune go to hell for it, not I. 

I speak too long; but ’tis to peize the time, 

To eke it and to draw it out in length, 

To stay you from election. 

Bass. Let me choose; 

For as I am, I live upon the rack. 

Bor. Upon the rack, Bassanio! then confess 
What treason there is mingled with your love. 

Bass. None but that ugly treason of mistrust, 

Which makes me fear the enjoying of my love: 

There may as well be amity and life 30 

’Tween snow and fire, as treason and my love. 

Bor. Ay, but I fear you speak upon the rack, 

Where men enforced do speak anything. 

Bass. Promise me life, and I’ll confess the truth. 

Bor. Well then, confess and live. 

Bass. “Confess” and “love” 

Had been the very sum of my confession: 

O happy torment, when my torturer 
Doth teach me answers for deliverance! 

But let me to my fortune and the caskets. 

Bor. Away, then! I am lock’d in one of them: 40 

If you do love me, you will find me out. 

Nerissa and the rest, stand all aloof. 

Let music sound while he doth make his choice; 


Line 20. Prove it so: if it prove so. 22. peize: weight, 
from the Latin, pensare. 33. Shakespeare evidently held the 
modern view of the slight value of testimony extorted by torture. 



THE MERCHANT OF VENICE [Act III 


54 

Then, if he lose, he makes a swan-like end, 

Fading in music: that the comparison 

May stand more proper, my eye shall be the stream 

And watery death-bed for him. He may win; 

And what is music then? Then music is 

Even as the flourish when true subjects bow 

To a new-crowned monarch: such it is 50 

As are those dulcet sounds in break of day 

That creep into the dreaming bridegroom’s ear 

And summon him to marriage. Now he goes, 

With no less presence, but with much more love, 

Than young Alcides, when he did redeem 
The virgin tribute paid by howling Troy 
To the sea-monster: I stand for sacrifice; 

The rest aloof are the Dardanian wives, 

With bleared visages, come forth to view 
The issue of the exploit. Go, Hercules! 60 

Live thou, I live: with much much more dismay 
I view the fight than thou that makest the fray. 

Music, whilst Bassanio comments on the caskets to himself 

Song 

Tell me where is fancy bred, 

Or in the heart or in the head? 

How begot, how nourished? 

Reply, reply. 

It is engender’d in the eyes, 

With gazing fed; and fancy dies 
In the cradle where it lies. 

Let us all ring fancy’s knell: 70 

I’ll begin it, -— Ding, dong, bell. 

Line 44. swan-like end. The swan’s death song, a legend loved 
by poets. 55. Alcides, or Hercules, rescued the Trojan princess, 
Hesione, from a sea monster to gain the horses her father offered 
her deliverer. 58. Dardanian: Dardanean (Trojan). 




Portia: Away, then! I am lock’d in one of them: 
If you do love me, you will find me out. 







White Studio 


Portia: Now he goes, . . . 

Live thou, I live: with much much more dismay 







57 


Scene 2 ] THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 

All. Ding, dong, bell. 

Bass. So may the outward shows be least them¬ 
selves: 

The world is still deceived with ornament. 

In law, what plea so tainted and corrupt 
But, being season’d with a gracious voice, 

Obscures the show of evil? In religion, 

What damned error, but some sober brow 
Will bless it and approve it with a text, 

Hiding the grossness with fair ornament? 80 

There is no vice so simple but assumes 
Some mark of virtue on his outward parts: 

How many cowards, whose hearts are all as false 
As stairs of sand, wear yet upon their chins 
The beards of Hercules and frowning Mars, 

Who, inward search’d, have livers white as milk; 

And these assume but valour’s excrement 
To render them redoubted! Look on beauty, 

And you shall see ’tis purchased by the weight; 

Which therein works a miracle in nature, 90 

Making them lightest that wear most of it: 

So are those crisped snaky golden locks 

Which make such wanton gambols with the wind, 

Upon supposed fairness, often known 
To be the dowry of a second head, 

The skull that bred them in the sepulchre. 

Thus ornament is but the guiled shore 


Line 73. outward shows. Perhaps the song was intended to sug¬ 
gest to Bassanio, that as fancy, or love, “engender’d in the eyes” 
has no happy end, he is not to judge by appearances. The in¬ 
scriptions were artfully designed to pick out the true and brave 
lover, who will think, not of what he may get, but of what he can 
do for his lady. 82. his: its, a rare word in Shakespeare’s day. 
87. excrement: excrescence; that which grows out of the body. 
Refers here to Hercules’ beard. 88. beauty . . . purchased by the 
weight: refers to paint and powder. 91. lightest , in the sense of 
“light o’ love.” 



THE MERCHANT OF VENICE [Act III 


5 8 

To a most dangerous sea; the beauteous scarf 
Veiling an Indian beauty; in a word, 

The seeming truth which cunning times put on ioo 
To entrap the wisest. Therefore, thou gaudy gold, 
Hard food for Midas, I will none of thee; 

Nor none of thee, thou pale and common drudge 
’Tween man and man: but thou, thou meagre lead, 
Which rather threatenest than dost promise aught, 

Thy paleness moves me more than eloquence; 

And here choose I: joy be the consequence! 

Por. [Aside] How all the other passions fleet to 
air, 

As doubtful thoughts, and rash-embraced despair, 

And shuddering fear, and green-eyed jealousy! no 

O love, be moderate; allay thy ecstasy; 

In measure rain thy joy; scant this excess. 

I feel too much thy blessing: make it less, 

For fear I surfeit. 

Bass. What find I here? 

[Opening the leaden casket. 
Fair Portia’s counterfeit! What demi-god 
Hath come so near creation? Move these eyes? 

Or whether, riding on the balls of mine, 

Seem they in motion? Here are sever’d lips, 

Parted with sugar breath: so sweet a bar 120 

Should sunder such sweet friends. Here in her hairs 


Line 99. Indian beauty: what we should mean by a black 
Venus. 102. Midas prayed for the power to turn all he touched 
to gold, only to find that he could not eat gold or drink it. 
106. paleness: probably a misprint for plainness. 116. Ellen 
Terry, “after Bassanio had made his fortunate choice, crumbled 
roses and allowed the leaves to flutter down into the leaden cas¬ 
ket from which the happy lover had taken her portrait, and then, 
bending over, seemed to consecrate it with a kiss. Ecstasy has 
not, within my observation of acting, been better expressed.” 
— Winter: Shakespeare on the Stage. 117. Or whether: Or I won¬ 
der whether . . . they only seem in motion. 



Scene 2] THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 


59 


The painter plays the spider and hath woven 
A golden mesh to entrap the hearts of men 
Faster than gnats in cobwebs: but her eyes, — 

How could he see to do them? having made one, 
Methinks it should have power to steal both his 
And leave itself unfurnish’d. Yet look, how far 
The substance of my praise doth wrong this shadow 
In underprizing it, so far this shadow 
Doth limp behind the substance. Here’s the scroll, 130 
The continent and summary of my fortune. 

[. Reads ] You that choose not by the view, 

Chance as fair and choose as true! 

Since this fortune falls to you, 

Be content and seek no new. 

If you be well pleased with this 
And hold your fortune for your bliss, 

Turn you where your lady is 
And claim her with a loving kiss. 

A gentle scroll. Fair lady, by your leave; 140 

I come by note, to give and to receive. 

Like one of two contending in a prize, 

That thinks he hath done well in people’s eyes, 

Hearing applause and universal shout, 

Giddy in spirit, still gazing in a doubt 
Whether those peals of praise be his or no; 

So, thrice-fair lady, stand I, even so; 

As doubtful whether what I see be true, 

Until confirm’d, sign’d, ratified by you. 

For. You see me, Lord Bassanio, where I stand, 150 
Such as I am: though for myself alone 
I would not be ambitious in my wish, 

To wish myself much better; yet, for you 

Line 127. unfurnished: unprovided with a mate. 131. conti¬ 
nent: container. 141. note: refers to directions on the scroll. 
142. prize: prize contest. 



6o 


THE MERCHANT OF VENICE [Act III 


I would be trebled twenty times myself; 

A thousand times more fair, ten thousand times 
More rich; 

That only to stand high in your account, 

I might in virtues, beauties, livings, friends, 

Exceed account; but the full sum of me 

Is sum of something, which, to term in gross, 160 

Is an unlesson’d girl, unschool’d, unpractised; 

Happy in this, she is not yet so old 
But she may learn; happier then in this, 

She is not bred so dull but she can learn; 

Happiest of all in that her gentle spirit 
Commits itself to yours to be directed, 

As from her lord, her governor, her king. 

Myself and what is mine to you and yours 
Is now converted: but now I was the lord 
Of this fair mansion, master of my servants, 170 

Queen o’er myself; and even now, but now, 

This house, these servants and this same myself 
Are yours, my lord: I give them with this ring; 

Which when you part from, lose, or give away, 

Let it presage the ruin of your love 
And be my vantage to exclaim on you. 

Bass. Madam, you have bereft me of all words, 

Only my blood speaks to you in my veins; 

And there is such confusion in my powers. 

As, after some oration fairly spoke 180 

By a beloved prince, there doth appear 
Among the buzzing pleased multitude; 

Where every something, being blent together, 

Turns to a wild of nothing, save of joy, 


Line 158. livings: means, wealth. 176. vantage: warrant. 
176. exclaim on: cry out against. 183. something . . . nothing: 
each feeling, or expression, turns to a medley, chaos. 



Scene 2 ] THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 61 

Express’d and not express’d. But when this ring 
Parts from this finger, then parts life from hence: 

O, then be bold to say Bassanio’s dead! 

Ner. My lord and lady, it is now our time, 

That have stood by and seen our wishes prosper, 

To cry, good joy: good joy, my lord and lady! 190 
Gra. My lord Bassanio and my gentle lady, 

I wish you all the joy that you can wish; 

For I am sure you can wish none from me: 

And when your honours mean to solemnize 
The bargain of your faith, I do beseech you, 

Even at that time I may be married too. 

Bass. With all my heart, so thou canst get a wife. 
Gra. I thank your lordship, you have got me one. 
My eyes, my lord, can look as swift as yours: 

You saw the mistress, I beheld the maid; 200 

You loved, I loved; for intermission 
No more pertains to me, my lord, than you. 

Your fortune stood upon the casket there, 

And so did mine too, as the matter falls; 

For wooing here until I sweat again, 

And swearing till my very roof was dry 
With oaths of love, at last, if promise last, 

I got a promise of this fair one here 
To have her love, provided that your fortune 
Achieved her mistress. 

Por. Is this true, Nerissa? 210 

Ner. Madam, it is, so you stand pleased withal. 

Bass. And do you, Gratiano, mean good faith? 

Gra. Yes, faith, my lord. 

Bass. Our feast shall be much honour’d in your 
marriage. 


Line 193. from: which should belong to. 




62 


THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 


[Act III 


But who comes here? Lorenzo and his infidel? 221 
What, and my old Venetian friend Salanio? 

Enter Lorenzo, Jessica, and Salanio, a Messenger 
from Venice 

Bass. Lorenzo and Salanio, welcome hither; 

If that the youth of my new interest here 
Have power to bid you welcome. By your leave, 

I bid my very friends and countrymen, 

Sweet Portia, welcome. 

Bor. So do I, my lord: 

They are entirely welcome. 

Lor. I thank your honour. For my part, my 
lord, 

My purpose was not to have seen you here; 230 

But meeting with Salanio by the way, 

He did intreat me, past all saying nay, 

To come with him along. 

Salan. I did, my lord; 

And I have reason for it. Signor Antonio 
Commends him to you. [ Gives Bassanio a letter. 

Bass. Ere I ope his letter, 

I pray you, tell me how my good friend doth. 

Salan. Not sick, my lord, unless it be in mind; 
Nor well, unless in mind: his letter there 
Will show you his estate. 

Gra. Nerissa, cheer yon stranger; bid her wel¬ 
come. 240 

Your hand, Salanio: what’s the news from Venice? 
How doth that royal merchant, good Antonio? 


Line 222. Salanio. In both Quartos and Folios this is printed 
Salerio, but mistakes in both spelling and printing are common 
and it seems unlikely that a new character would be introduced 
without good reason at this point in the play. 



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64 THE MERCHANT OF VENICE [Act III 

I know he will be glad of our success; 

We are the Jasons, we have won the fleece. 

Salan. I would you had won the fleece that he 
hath lost. 

Por. There are some shrewd contents in yon same 
paper, 

That steals the colour from Bassanio’s cheek: 

Some dear friend dead; else nothing in the world 
Could turn so much the constitution 
Of any constant man. What, worse and worse! 250 
With leave, Bassanio; I am half yourself, 

And I must freely have the half of anything 
That this same paper brings you. 

Bass. O sweet Portia, 

Here are a few of the unpleasant’st words 
That ever blotted paper! Gentle lady, 

When I did first impart my love to you, 

I freely told you, all the wealth I had 
Ran in my veins, I was a gentleman; 

And then I told you true: and yet, dear lady, 

Rating myself at nothing, you shall see 260 

How much I was a braggart. When I told you 
My state was nothing, I should then have told you 
That I was worse than nothing; for, indeed 
I have engaged myself to a dear friend, 

Engaged my friend to his mere enemy, 

To feed my means. Here is a letter, lady; 

The paper as the body of my friend, 

And every word in it a gaping wound, 

Issuing life-blood. But is it true, Salanio? 

Have all his ventures fail’d? What, not one hit? 270 
From Tripolis, from Mexico and England, 

From Lisbon, Barbary and India? 

Line 244. Jasons. The Golden Fleece was won by Jason and 
his Argonauts. 246. shrewd: bad. 265. mere: unmixed. 



Scene 2] THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 


65 


And not one vessel ’scape the dreadful touch 
Of merchant-marring rocks? 

Salan. Not one, my lord. 

Besides, it should appear, that if he had 
The present money to discharge the Jew, 

He would not take it. Never did I know 
A creature, that did bear the shape of man, 

So keen and greedy to confound a man: 

He plies the duke at morning and at night, 280 

And doth impeach the freedom of the state, 

If they deny him justice: twenty merchants, 

The duke himself, and the magnificoes 
Of greatest port, have all persuaded with him; 

But none can drive him from the envious plea 
Of forfeiture, of justice and his bond. 

Jes. When I was with him I have heard him 
swear 

To Tubal and to Chus, his countrymen^ 

That he would rather have Antonio’s flesh 

Than twenty times the value of the sum 290 

That he did owe him: and I know, my lord, 

If law, authority and power deny not, 

It will go hard with poor Antonio. 

Por. Is it your dear friend that is thus in trouble? 
Bass. The dearest friend to me, the kindest man, 
The best-condition’d and unwearied spirit 
In doing courtesies, and one in whom 
The ancient Roman honour more appears 
Than any that draws breath in Italy. 

Por. What sum owes he the Jew? 300 

Bass. For me three thousand ducats. 

Por. What, no more? 

Pay him six thousand, and deface the bond; 

Line 296. unwearied: most unwearied, the superlative being 
carried over from best. 



66 


THE MERCHANT OF VENICE [Act III 


Double six thousand, and then treble that, 

Before a friend of this description 
Shall lose a hair through Bassanio’s fault. 

First go with me to church and call me wife, 

And then away to Venice to your friend; 

For never shall you lie by Portia’s side 

With an unquiet soul. You shall have gold 

To pay the petty debt twenty times over: 310 

When it is paid, bring your true friend along. 

My maid Nerissa and myself meantime 
Will live as maids and widows. Come, away! 

For you shall hence upon your wedding-day: 

Bid your friends welcome, show a merry cheer: 

Since you are dear bought, I will love you dear. 

But let me hear the letter of your friend. 

Bass. \Reads] Sweet Bassanio, my ships have all 
miscarried, my creditors grow cruel, my estate is very 
low, my bond to the Jew is forfeit; and since in pay-320 
ing it, it is impossible I should live, all debts are 
cleared between you and I. If I might but see you 
at my death — notwithstanding, use your pleasure: 
if your love do not persuade you to come, let not my 
letter. 

Bor. O love, dispatch all business, and be gone! 

Bass. Since I have your good leave to go away, 

I will make haste: but, till I come again, 

No bed shall e’er be guilty of my stay, 

No rest be interposed ’twixt us twain. 

[ Exeunt . 

Scene III — Venice. A street 
Enter Shylock, Salarino, Antonio, and Gaoler 
Shy. Gaoler, look to him: tell not me of mercy: 

This is the fool that lent out money gratis: 

Gaoler, look to him. 

Line 305. h a- i r * 322. between you and I. You and I, re¬ 
garded as a stock phrase, was not inflected. 



Scene 3] THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 


67 

Ant. Hear me yet, good Shylock. 

Shy. I’ll have my bond; speak not against my 
bond: 

I have sworn an oath that I will have my bond. 

Thou call’dst me dog before thou hadst a cause; 

But, since I am a dog, beware my fangs: 

The duke shall grant me justice. I do wonder, 

Thou naughty gaoler, that thou art so fond 
To come abroad with him at his request. io 

Ant. I pray thee, hear me speak. 

Shy. I’ll have my bond; I will not hear thee 
speak: 

I’ll have my bond; and therefore speak no more. 

I’ll not be made a soft and dull-eyed fool, 

To shake the head, relent, and sigh, and yield 
To Christian intercessors. Follow not; 

I’ll have no speaking: I will have my bond. 

[Exit. 

Salar. It is the most impenetrable cur 
That ever kept with men. 

Ant. Let him alone: 

I’ll follow him no more with bootless prayers. 20 

He seeks my life; his reason well I know: 

I oft deliver’d from his forfeitures 

Many that have at times made moan to me; 

Therefore he hates me. 

Salar. I am sure the duke 

Will never grant this forfeiture to hold. 

Ant. The duke cannot deny the course of law, 

For the commodity that strangers have 
With us in Venice. If it be denied, 

’Twill much impeach the justice of his state: 

Since that the trade and profit of the city 30 


Line 9. naughty: bad. 9. fond: foolish. 



68 


THE MERCHANT OF VENICE [Act III 

Consisteth of all nations. Therefore, go: 

These griefs and losses have so bated me, 

That I shall hardly spare a pound of flesh 
To-morrow to my bloody creditor. 

Well, gaoler, on. Pray God, Bassanio come 
To see me pay his debt, and then I care not! 

[Exeunt. 

Scene IV — Belmont. A room in Portia’s house 
Enter Portia, Nerissa, Lorenzo, Jessica, and 
Balthasar 

Lor. Madam, although I speak it in your pres¬ 
ence, 

You have a noble and a true conceit 
Of god-like amity; which appears most strongly 
In bearing thus the absence of your lord. 

But if you knew to whom you show this honour, 

How true a gentleman you send relief, 

How dear a lover of my lord your husband, 

I know you would be prouder of the work 
Than customary bounty can enforce you. 

For. I never did repent for doing good, 

Nor shall not now: for in companions 
That do converse and waste the time together, 

Whose souls do bear an equal yoke of love, 

There must be needs a like proportion 
Of lineaments, of manners and of spirit; 

Which makes me think that this Antonio, 

Being the bosom lover of my lord, 

Must needs be like my lord. If it be so, 

How little is the cost I have bestow’d 

Line 32. bated: reduced. 

Sufficient time has elapsed since Scene 2 for Portia to have 
made her plans and written her letter to Dr. Bellario. 

2. conceit: conception. 



Scene 4] THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 

In purchasing the semblance of my soul 
From out the state of hellish misery! 

This comes too near the praising of myself; 

Therefore no more of it: hear other things. 

Lorenzo, I commit into your hands 
The husbandry and manage of my house 
Until my lord’s return: for mine own part, 

I have toward heaven breathed a secret vow 
To live in prayer and contemplation, 

Only attended by Nerissa here, 

Until her husband and my lord’s return: 

There is a monastery two miles off; 

And there will we abide. I do desire you 
Not to deny this imposition; 

The which my love and some necessity 
Now lays upon you. 

Lor. Madam, with all my heart; 

I shall obey you in all fair commands. 

For. My people do already know my mind, 

And will acknowledge you and Jessica 
In place of Lord Bassanio and myself. 

And so farewell, till we shall meet again. 40 

Lor. Fair thoughts and happy hours attend on 
you! 

Jes. I wish your ladyship all heart’s content. 

For. I thank you for your wish, and am well 
pleased 

To wish it back on you: fare you well, Jessica. 

[Exeunt Jessica and Lorenzo. 

Now, Balthasar, 

As I have ever found thee honest-true, 

So let me find thee still. Take this same letter, 


Line 25. husbandry: care. 25. manage: management. 

31. There was a Benedictine convent at Saonara, three miles 
from the Brenta. 33. imposition: task imposed. 


% 

20 



THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 


[Act III 


70 

And use thou all the endeavour of a man 
In speed to Padua: see thou render this 
Into my cousin’s hand, Doctor Bellario: 50 

And, look, what notes and garments he doth give 
thee, 

Bring them, I pray thee, with imagined speed 

Unto the traject, to the common ferry 

Which trades to Venice. Waste no time in words, 

But get thee gone; I shall be there before thee. 

Balth. Madam, I go with all convenient speed. 

[Exit. 

For. Come on, Nerissa; I have work in hand 
That you yet know not of: we’ll see our husbands 
Before they think of us. 

Ner. Shall they see us? 

For. They shall, Nerissa; but in such a habit, 60 
That they shall think we are accomplished 
With that we lack. I’ll hold thee any wager, 

When we are both accoutred like young men, 

I’ll prove the prettier fellow of the two, 

And wear my dagger with the braver grace, 

And speak between the change of man and boy 
With a reed voice, and turn two mincing steps 
Into a manly stride, and speak of frays 
Like a fine bragging youth, and tell quaint lies, 

How honourable ladies sought my love, 70 

Which I denying, they fell sick and died; 

I could not do withal; then I’ll repent, 

And wish, for all that, that I had not kill’d them; 

And twenty of these puny lies I’ll tell, 

That men shall swear I have discontinued school 


Line 52. imagined: imaginable. 53. traject: ferry (Italian 
traghetti). Sometimes spelled “tranect.” 61. accomplished: fur¬ 
nished. 69. quaint: ingenious. 72. could not do withal: could 
not help it. 



7 


Scene 5] THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 

About a twelvemonth. I have within my mind 
A thousand raw tricks of these bragging Jacks, 
Which I will practise. 

But come, I’ll tell thee all my whole device 
When I am in my coach, which stays for us 
At the park gate; and therefore haste away, 

For we must measure twenty miles to-day. 

[ Exeunt. 


Scene V — The same. A garden 
Enter Launcelot and Jessica 

Lam. Yes, truly; for, look you, the sins of the 
father are to be laid upon the children: therefore, I 
promise ye, I fear you. I was always plain with you, 
and so now I speak my agitation of the matter: there¬ 
fore be of good cheer, for truly I think you are damned. 

Jes. I shall be saved by my husband; he hath 
made me a Christian. 

Laun. Truly, the more to blame he: we were 
Christians enow before; e’en as many as could well 
live, one by another. This making of Christians 
will raise the price of hogs: if we grow all to be pork- 
eaters, we shall not shortly have a rasher on the coals 
for money. 

Enter Lorenzo 

Jes. I’ll tell my husband, Launcelot, what you say: 
here he comes. 

Lor. I shalFgrow jealous of you shortly, Launcelot, 
if you thus get my wife into corners. 


Line 77. Jacks: fellows. 84. twenty miles. Dolo, on the 
Brenta, is twenty miles from Venice. 

Launcelot and Jessica come on as Portia and Nerissa go off. 
3. fear you; fear for you. 4. agitation: cogitation. 



72 


THE MERCHANT OF VENICE [Act III 


Jes. Nay, you need not fear us, Lorenzo: Launce- 
lot and I are out. He tells me flatly, there is no 
mercy for me in heaven, because I am a Jew’s daugh¬ 
ter: and he says, you are no good member of the 
commonwealth, for in converting Jews to Christians, 
you raise the price of pork. 39 

Lor. How every fool can play upon the word! I 
think the best grace of wit will shortly turn into silence, 
and discourse grow commendable in none only but 
parrots. Go in, sirrah; bid them prepare for dinner. 

Laun. That is done, sir; they have all stomachs. 

Lor. Goodly Lord, what a wit-snapper are you! 
then bid them prepare dinner. 

Laun. That is done too, sir; only “cover” is the 
word. 

Lor. Will you cover then, sir? 

Laun. Not so, sir, neither; I know my duty. 

Lor. Yet more quarrelling with occasion! Wilt 60 
thou show the whole wealth of thy wit in an instant? 

I pray thee, understand a plain fnan in his plain mean¬ 
ing: go to thy fellows; bid them cover the table, serve 
in the meat, and we will come in to dinner. 

Laun. For the table, sir, it shall be served in; for 
the meat, sir, it shall be covered; for your coming 
in to dinner, sir, why, let it be as humours and conceits 
shall govern. [Exit. 

Lor. O dear discretion, how his words are suited! 70 
The fool hath planted in his memory 
An army of good words; and I do know 
A many fools, that stand in better place, 

Garnish’d like him, that for a tricksy word 

Lines 58-59. cover. Lorenzo uses the word in the sense of 
setting the table; Launcelot, perversely, assumes he means “Put on 
your hat.” 60. quarrelling with occasion: quibbling. 70. suited; 
dressed up. 



73 


Scene 5] THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 

Defy the matter. How cheer’st thou, Jessica? 

And now, good sweet, say thy opinion, 

How dost thou like the Lord Bassanio’s wife? 

Jes. Past all expressing. It is very meet 
The Lord Bassanio live an upright life; 

For, having such a blessing in his lady, 80 

He finds the joys of heaven here on earth; 

And if on earth he do not merit it, 

In reason he should never come to heaven. 

Why, if two gods should play some heavenly match 
And on the wager lay two earthly women, 

And Portia one, there must be something else 
Pawn’d with the other, for the poor rude world 
Hath not her fellow. 

Lor. Even such a husband 

Hast thou of me as she is for a wife. 

Jes. Nay, but ask my opinion too of that. 90 

Lor. I will anon: first, let us go to dinner. 

Jes. Nay, let me praise you while I have a stom¬ 
ach. 

Lor. No, pray thee, let it serve for table-talk; 
Then, howsoe’er thou speak’st, ’mong other things 
I shall digest it. 

Jes. Well, I’ll set you forth. 

[Exeunt. 


Line 82. merit: often printed “mean,” a misprint. 87. Pawn'd: 
staked. 92. stomach: appetite. 



74 


THE MERCHANT OF VENICE [Act IV 


ACT IV 

Scene I — Venice. A court of justice 
Enter the Duke, the Magnificoes, Antonio, Bassanio, 
Gratiano, Salanio, and others 

Duke. What, is Antonio here? 

Ant. Ready, so please your grace. 

Duke. I am sorry for thee: thou art come to 
answer 

A stony adversary, an inhuman wretch 
Uncapable of pity, void and empty 
From any dram of mercy. 

Ant. I have heard 

Your grace hath ta’en great pains to qualify 
His rigorous course; but since he stands obdurate 
And that no lawful means can carry me 
Out of his envy’s reach, I do oppose 
My patience to his fury, and am arm’d 
To suffer, with a quietness of spirit, 

The very tyranny and rage of his. 

Duke. Go one, and call the Jew into the court. 
Satan. He is ready at the door: he comes, my lord. 

Enter Shylock 

Duke. Make room, and let him stand before our 
face. 

Shylock, the world thinks, and I think so too, 

“The Trial Scene, with its tugging vicissitudes of passion and 
its hush of terrible expectation, — now ringing with the Jew’s 
sharp, spiteful snaps of malice, now made musical with Portia’s 
strains of eloquence, now holy with Antonio’s tender breathings 
of friendship, and dashed, from time to time, with Gratiano’s 
fierce jets of wrath and fiercer jets of mirth, — is hardly sur¬ 
passed in tragic power anywhere; and as it forms the catas¬ 
trophe proper, so it concentrates the interest of the whole play.” 
— Hudson. 

Lines 5-6. empty from: empty of. 10. envy: malice. 




Scene i] THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 


75 


That thou but lead’st this fashion of thy malice 
To the last hour of act: and then ’tis thought 
Thou’lt show thy mercy and remorse more strange 20 
Than is thy strange apparent cruelty; 

And where thou now exact’st the penalty, 

Which is a pound of this poor merchant’s flesh, 

Thou wilt not only loose the forfeiture, 

But, touch’d with human gentleness and love, 

Forgive a moiety of the principal; 

Glancing an eye of pity on his losses, 

That have of late so huddled on his back, 

Enow to press a royal merchant down 

And pluck commiseration of his state 30 

From brassy bosoms and rough hearts of flint, 

From stubborn Turks and Tartars, never train’d 
To offices of tender courtesy. 

We all expect a gentle answer, Jew. 

Shy. I have possess’d your grace of what I pur¬ 
pose; 

And by our holy Sabbath have I sworn 
To have the due and forfeit of my bond: 

If you deny it, let the danger light 
Upon your charter and your city’s freedom. 

You’ll ask me, why I rather choose to have 40 

A weight of carrion flesh than to receive 
Three thousand ducats: I’ll not answer that: 

But, say, it is my humour: is it answer’d? 

What if my house be troubled with a rat 
And I be pleased to give ten thousand ducats 
To have it baned? What, are you answer’d yet? 

Some men there are love not a gaping pig; 

Some, that are mad if they behold a cat; 

Line 39. charter. Shakespeare is thinking of an English city. 
Venice, a sovereign state, needed no charter. 47. gaping pig: 
a roasted pig came to table with a lemon in its mouth. 



76 the MERCHANT OF VENICE [Act IV 

And others, at the bagpipe; for affection, 5 ° 

Mistress of passion, sways it to the mood 

Of what it likes or loathes. Now, for your answer: 

As there is no firm reason to be render’d, 

Why he cannot abide a gaping pig; 

Why he, a harmless necessary cat; 

Why he, a woollen bagpipe; 

So can I give no reason, nor I will not, 

More than a lodged hate and a certain loathing 60 
I bear Antonio, that I follow thus 
A losing suit against him. Are you answer’d? 

Bass. This is no answer, thou unfeeling man, 

To excuse the current of thy cruelty. 

Shy. I am not bound to please thee with my 
answers. 

Bass. Do all men kill the things they do not 
love? 

Shy. Hates any man the thing he would not kill? 
Bass. Every offence is not a hate at first. 

Shy. What, wouldst thou have a serpent sting 
thee twice? 

Ant. I pray you, think you question with the 

Jew: 7 ° 

You may as well go stand upon the beach 
And bid the main flood bate his usual height; 

You may as well use question with the wolf 
Why he hath made the ewe bleat for the lamb; 

You may as well forbid the mountain pines 
To wag their high tops and to make no noise, 

When they are fretten with the gusts of heaven; 

You may as well do any thing most hard, 

As seek to soften that — than which what’s harder? — 
His Jewish heart: therefore, I do beseech you, 80 

Line 50. affection: fancy. 56. woollen: refers to the cover. 

72. main: ocean. 77. fretten: fretted. 




Scene i] THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 


77 


Make no more offers, use no farther means, 

But with all brief and plain conveniency 
Let me have judgement and the Jew his will. 

Bass. For thy three thousand ducats here is six. 
Shy. If every ducat in six thousand ducats 
Were in six parts and every part a ducat, 

I would not draw them; I would have my bond. 
Duke. How shalt thou hope for mercy, rendering 
none? 

Shy. What judgement shall I dread, doing no 
wrong? 

You have among you many a purchased slave, 
Which, like your asses and your dogs and mules, 

You use in abject and in slavish parts, 

Because you bought them: shall I say to you, 

Let them be free, marry them to your heirs? 

Why sweat they under burthens? let their beds • 

Be made as soft as yours and let their palates 
Be season’d with such viands? You will answer 
“The slaves are ours:” so do I answer you: 

The pound of flesh, which I demand of him, 

Is dearly bought; ’tis mine and I will have it. 

If you deny me, fie upon your law! 

There is no force in the decrees of Venice. 

I stand for judgement: answer; shall I have it? 

Duke. Upon my power I may dismiss this court, 
Unless Bellario, a learned doctor, 

Whom I have sent for to determine this, 

Come here to-day. 

Salan. My lord, here stays without 


Line 89. no wrong: no injustice according to the letter of the 
law. 90. Shylock’s argument is that they purchase human flesh 
and use it as they like. Why may he not do the same? 107. with¬ 
out: outside. 




THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 


[Act IV 


78 

A messenger with letters from the doctor, 

New come from Padua. 

Duke. Bring us the letters; call the messenger, no 
Bass. Good cheer, Antonio! What, man, cour¬ 
age yet! 

The Jew shall have my flesh, blood, bones and all, 

Ere thou shalt lose for me one drop of blood. 

Ant. I am a tainted wether of the flock, 

Meetest for death: the weakest kind of fruit 
Drops earliest to the ground; and so let me: 

You cannot better be employ’d, Bassanio, 

Than to live still and write mine epitaph. 

Enter Nerissa, dressed like a lawyer’s clerk 

Duke. Came you from Padua, from Bellario? 

JVer. From both, my lord. Bellario greets your 

grace. [ Presenting a letter. 120 

Bass. Why dost thou whet thy knife so earnestly? 

Shy. To cut the forfeiture from that bankrupt 
there. 

Gra. Not on thy sole, but on thy soul, harsh Jew, 
Thou makest thy knife keen: but no metal can, 

No, not the hangman’s axe, bear half the keenness 
Of thy sharp envy. Can no prayers pierce thee? 

Shy. No, none that thou hast wit enough to make. 

Gra. O, be thou damn’d, inexorable dog! 

And for thy life let justice be accused. 

Thou almost makest me waver in my faith 130 

To hold opinion with Pythagoras, 

That souls of animals infuse themselves 


Lines 118-124. “Shylock smiles scornfully, and slowly draw¬ 
ing his knife, at line 124, kneels to whet it on the sole of the shoe.” 
— Booth. 121-142. The Duke is reading the letter. 125. hang- 
man: executioner. 129. for thy life: for letting thee live. 131.7b 
hold: so as to hold. Pythagoras was the Greek philosopher who 
taught transmigration of souls. 



Scene i] THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 


79 


Into the trunks of men: thy currish spirit 
Govern’d a wolf, who, hang’d for human slaughter, 
Even from the gallows did his fell soul fleet, 

And, whilst thou lay’st in thy unhallow’d dam, 

Infused itself in thee; for thy desires 
Are wolvish, bloody, starved and ravenous. 

Shy. Till thou canst rail the seal from off my bond, 
Thou but offend’st thy lungs to speak so loud: 140 

Repair thy wit, good youth, or it will fall 
To cureless ruin. I stand here for law. 

Duke. This letter from Bellario doth commend 
A young and learned doctor to our court. 

Where is he? 

JVer. He attendeth here hard by, 

To know your answer, whether you’ll admit him. 

Duke. With all my heart. Some three or four 
of you 

Go give him courteous conduct to this place. 

Meantime the court shall hear Bellario’s letter. 

Clerk. [Reads] Your grace shall understand that 150 
at the receipt of your letter I am very sick: but in 
the instant that your messenger came, in loving visita¬ 
tion was with me a young doctor of Rome; his name 
is Balthasar. I acquainted him with the cause in con¬ 
troversy between the Jew and Antonio the merchant: 
we turned o’er many books together: he is furnished 
with my opinion; which, bettered with his own 
learning, the greatness whereof I cannot enough 
commend, comes with him, at my importunity, to 
fill up your grace’s request in my stead. I beseech 160 
you, let his lack of years be no impediment to let him 


Line i 34. who: a supplementary pronoun often used when the 
relative is separated from its antecedent. 161. no impediment to 
let him lack: no hindrance to his receiving. 



8o 


THE MERCHANT OF VENICE [Act IV 


lack a reverend estimation; for I never knew so young 
a body with so old a head. I leave him to your 
gracious acceptance, whose trial shall better publish 
his commendation. 

Duke. You hear the learn’d Bellario, what he 
writes: 

And here, I take it, is the doctor come. 

Enter Portia, dressed like a doctor of laws 

Give me your hand. Come you from old Bellario? 

Por. I did, my lord. 

Duke. You are welcome: take your place. 170 

Are you acquainted with the difference 
That holds this present question in the court? 

Por. I am informed throughly of the cause. 

Which is the merchant here, and which the Jew? 

Duke. Antonio and old Shylock, both stand 
forth. 

Por. Is your name Shylock? 

Shy. Shylock is my name. 

Por. Of a strange nature is the suit you follow; 

Yet in such rule that the Venetian law 
Cannot impugn you as you do proceed. 

You stand within his danger, do you not? 180 

Ant. Ay, so he says. 

Por. Do you confess the bond? 

Ant. I do. 

Por. Then must the Jew be merciful. 

Shy. On what compulsion must I? tell me that. 

Por. The quality of mercy is not strain’d, 

It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven 


Line 164. whose: for his. 170. “Portia goes to a table on 
dais, facing the Duke.” — Booth. 178. in such rule: so regular. 
180. within his danger: in danger from him. 184. strain'd: con¬ 
strained. 



Scene i] THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 

Upon the place beneath: it is twice blest; 

It blesseth him that gives and him that takes: 

’Tis mightiest in the mightiest: it becomes 
The throned monarch better than his crown; 

His sceptre shows the force of temporal power, 

The attribute to awe and majesty, 

Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings; 

But mercy is above this sceptred sway; 

It is enthroned in the hearts of kings, 

It is an attribute to God himself; 

And earthly power doth then show likest God’s 
When mercy seasons justice. Therefore, Jew, 

Though justice be thy plea, consider this, 

That, in the course of justice, none of us 
Should see salvation: we do pray for mercy; 

And that same prayer doth teach us all to render 
The deeds of mercy. I have spoke thus much 
To mitigate the justice of thy plea; 

Which if thou follow, this strict court of Venice 
Must needs give sentence ’gainst the merchant there. 

Shy. My deeds upon my head! I crave the law, 

The penalty and forfeit of my bond. 

Bor. Is he not able to discharge the money? 

Bass. Yes, here I tender it for him in the court; 

Yea, twice the sum: if that will not suffice, 210 

I will be bound to pay it ten times o’er, 

On forfeit of my hands, my head, my heart: 

If this will not suffice, it must appear 

That malice bears down truth. And I beseech you, 

Wrest once the law to your authority: 

To do a great right, do a little wrong, 

And curb this cruel devil of his will. 

Bor. It must not be; there is no power in Venice 


81 


190 


200 


Line 214. truth: sincerity, reason. 



82 


THE MERCHANT OF VENICE [Act IV 


Can alter a decree established: 

’Twill be recorded for a precedent, 220 

And many an error by the same example 
Will rush into the state: it cannot be. 

Shy. A Daniel come to judgement! yea, a Daniel! 

O wise young judge, how I do honour thee! 

Por. I pray you, let me look upon the bond. 

Shy. Here ’tis, most reverend doctor, here it is. 

Por. Shylock, there’s thrice thy money offer’d thee. 
Shy. An oath, an oath, I have an oath in heaven: 
Shall I lay perjury upon my soul? 

No, not for Venice. 

Por. Why, this bond is forfeit; 230 

And lawfully by this the Jew may claim 
A pound of flesh, to be by him cut off 
Nearest the merchant’s heart. Be merciful: 

Take thrice thy money; bid me tear the bond. 

Shy. When it is paid according to the tenour. 

It doth appear you are a worthy judge; 

You know the law, your exposition 

Hath been most sound: I charge you by the law, 

Whereof you are a well-deserving pillar, 

Proceed to judgement: by my soul I swear 240 

There is no power in the tongue of man 
To alter me: I stay here on my bond. 

Ant. Most heartily I do beseech the court 
To give the judgement. 

Por. Why then, thus it is: 

You must prepare your bosom for his knife. 

Shy. O noble judge! O excellent young man! 

Por. For the intent and purpose of the law 


Line 223. In the Apocrypha (Story of Susannah and the Elders), 
Daniel, a youth, convicted the Elders of false witness and saved 
the woman. Shylock speaks “almost wildly and kisses the hem 
of Portia’s gown.” — Booth. 



Scene i] THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 


83 


Hath full relation to the penalty, 

Which here appeareth due upon the bond. 

Shy. ’Tis very true: O wise and upright judge! 250 
How much more elder art thou than thy looks! 

Por. Therefore lay bare your bosom. 

Shy. Ay, his breast: 

So says the bond: doth it not, noble judge? 

“Nearest his heart:” those are the very words. 

Por. It is so. Are there balance here to weigh 
The flesh? 

Shy. I have them ready. 

Por. Have by some surgeon, Shylock, on your 
charge, 

To stop his wounds, lest he do bleed to death. 

Shy. Is it so nominated in the bond? 

Por. It is not so express’d: but what of that? 260 
’Twere good you do so much for charity. 

Shy. I cannot find it; ’tis not in the bond. 

Por. You, merchant, have you any thing to say? 

Ant. But little: I am arm’d and well prepared. 

Give me your hand, Bassanio: fare you well! 

Grieve not that I am fallen to this for you; 

For herein Fortune shows herself more kind 
Than is her custom: it is still her use 
To let the wretched man outlive his wealth, 

To view with hollow eye and wrinkled brow 270 

An age of poverty; from which lingering penance 
Of such misery doth she cut me off. 

Commend me to your honourable wife: 

Tell her the process of Antonio’s end; 

Say how I loved you, speak me fair in death; 


Line 255. balance: balances. Plural s is often omitted when 
a word ends with a sibilant. “Shylock places the scales upon 
the dais (or table) and takes the bond from Portia.” — Booth. 
264. arm’d (with patience). 



THE MERCHANT OF VENICE [Act IV 


84 

And, when the tale is told, bid her be judge 
Whether Bassanio had not once a love. 

Repent but you that you shall lose your friend, 

And he repents not that he pays your debt; 

For if the Jew do cut but deep enough, 280 

I’ll pay it presently with all my heart. 

Bass. Antonio, I am married to a wife 
Which is as dear to me as life itself; 

But life itself, my wife, and all the world, 

Are not with me esteem’d above thy life: 

I would lose all, ay, sacrifice them all 
Here to this devil, to deliver you. 

Bor. Your wife would give you little thanks for 
that, 

If she were by, to hear you make the offer. 

Gra. I have a wife, whom, I protest, I love: 290 

I would she were in heaven, so she could 
Entreat some power to change this currish Jew. 

Ner. ’Tis well you offer it behind her back; 

The wish would make else an unquiet house. 

Shy. These be the Christian husbands. I have a 
daughter; 

Would any of the stock of Barrabas 

Had been her husband rather than a Christian! 

[Aside. 

We trifle time: I pray thee, pursue sentence. 

Por. A pound of that same merchant’s flesh is 
thine: 

The court awards it, and the law doth give it. 300 

Shy. Most rightful judge! 


Line 281. heart. To jest at such a time shows courage. The 
bit of comic relief at a tense moment is characteristic of Shake¬ 
speare. 296. Barrabas. 298. pursue. 301. “With back to 
audience and knife raised high above his head.” — Booth. 



Scene i] THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 85 

Por. And you must cut this flesh from off his 
breast: 

The law allows it, and the court awards it. 

Shy. Most learned judge! A sentence! Gome, 
prepare! 

Por. Tarry a little; there is something else. 

This bond doth give thee here no jot of blood; 

The words expressly are “a pound of flesh:” 

Take then thy bond, take thou thy pound of flesh; 

But, in the cutting it, if thou dost shed 

One drop of Christian blood, thy lands and goods 310 

Are, by the laws of Venice, confiscate 

Unto the state of Venice. 

Gra. O upright judge! Mark, Jew: O learned 
judge! 

Shy. Is that the law? 

Por. Thyself shalt see the act: 

For, as thou urgest justice, be assured 

Thou shalt have justice, more than thou desirest. 

Gra. O learned judge! Mark, Jew: a learned 
judge! 

Shy. I take this offer, then; pay the bond thrice 
And let the Christian go. 

Bass. Here is the money. 

Por. Soft! 320 

The Jew shall have all justice; soft! no haste: 

He shall have nothing but the penalty. 

Gra. O Jew! an upright judge, a learned judge! 

Por. Therefore prepare thee to cut off the flesh. 

Shed thou no blood, nor cut thou less nor more 
But just a pound of flesh: if thou cut’st more 
Or less than a just pound, be it but so much 

Line 304. Here Irving (as Shylock) springs at Antonio and 
Bassanio flings himself between them. 314. “Shylock staggers 
backward and drops the knife.” — Booth. 



86 


THE MERCHANT OF VENICE [Act IV 


As makes it light or heavy in the substance 
Of the division of the twentieth part 
Of one poor scruple, nay, if the scale do turn 330 

But in the estimation of a hair, 

Thou diest and all thy goods are confiscate. 

Gra. A second Daniel, a Daniel, Jew! 

Now, infidel, I have you on the hip. 

For. Why doth the Jew pause? take thy for¬ 
feiture. 

Shy. Give me my principal, and let me go. 

Bass. I have it ready for thee; here it is. 

For. He hath refused it in the open court: 

He shall have merely justice and his bond. 

Gra. A Daniel, still say I, a second Daniel! 340 

I thank thee, Jew, for teaching me that word. 

Shy. Shall I not have barely my principal? 

For. Thou shalt have nothing but the forfeiture, 

To be so taken at thy peril, Jew. 

Shy. Why, then the devil give him good of it! 

I’ll stay no longer question. 

For. Tarry, Jew: 

The law hath yet another hold on you. 

It is enacted in the laws of Venice, 

If it be proved against an alien 

That by direct or indirect attempts 350 

He seek the life of any citizen, 

The party ’gainst the which he doth contrive 
Shall seize one half his goods; the other half 
Comes to the privy coffer of the state; 

And the offender’s life lies in the mercy 
Of the duke only, ’gainst all other voice. 

In which predicament, I say, thou stand’st; 

Line 335. pause. Possibly for an instant Shylockwas tempted 
to take his revenge at the cost of his life. 348. This was proba¬ 
bly the advice of Dr. Bellario. 



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88 


THE MERCHANT OF VENICE [Act IV 


For it appears, by manifest proceeding, 

That indirectly and directly too 

Thou hast contrived against the very life 360 

Of the defendant; and thou hast incurr’d 
The danger formerly by me rehearsed. 

Down therefore and beg mercy of the duke. 

Gra. Beg that thou mayst have leave to hang 
thyself: 

And yet, thy wealth being forfeit to the state, 

Thou hast not left the value of a cord; 

Therefore thou must be hang’d at the state’s charge. 
Duke. That thou shalt see the difference of our 
spirits, 

I pardon thee thy life before thou ask it: 

For half thy wealth, it is Antonio’s; 370 

The other half comes to the general state. 

Which humbleness may drive unto a fine. 

For. Ay, for the state, not for Antonio. 

Shy. Nay, take my life and all; pardon not that: 
You take my house when you do take the prop 
That doth sustain my house; you take my life 
When you do take the means whereby I live. 

For. What mercy can you render him, Antonio? 

Gra. A halter gratis; nothing else, for God’s 
sake. 

Ant. So please my lord the duke and all the 

court 380 

To quit the fine for one half of his goods, 

I am content — so he will let me have 
The other half in use — to render it, 

Upon his death, unto the gentleman 
That lately stole his daughter: 

Two things provided more, that, for this favour, 

He presently become a Christian; 

Line 373. Portia means that the Duke cannot remit Antonio’s 
half. 381. quit: remit. 387. presently: at once. 



Scene i] THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 89 

The other, that he do record a gift, 

Here in the court, of all he dies possess’d of 
Unto his son Lorenzo and his daughter. 390 

Duke. He shall do this, or else I do recant 
The pardon that I late pronounced here. 

Por. Art thou contented, Jew? what dost thou 
say? 

Shy. I am content. 

Por. Clerk, draw a deed of gift. 

Shy. I pray you, give me leave to go from hence; 

I am not well: send the deed after me, 

And I will sign it. 

Duke. Get thee gone, but do it. 

Gra. In christening shalt thou have two god¬ 
fathers: 

Had I been judge, thou shouldst have had ten more, 

To bring thee to the gallows, not the font. 400 

[Exit Shylock. 

Duke. Sir, I entreat you home with me to dinner. 
Por. I humbly do desire your grace of pardon: 

I must away this night toward Padua, 

And it is meet I presently set forth. 

Duke. I am sorry that your leisure serves you not. 
Antonio, gratify this gentleman, 

For, in my mind, you are much bound to him. 

[Exeunt Duke and his train. 


Line 394. “The sudden change of Shylock’s whole appearance 
when the cause turned against him; the happy pause in ‘I am con¬ 
tent,’ as if it almost choked him to bring out the words; the partial 
bowing down of his inflexible will when he said, ‘I pray you give me 
leave to go from hence; I am not well’; the horror of his coun¬ 
tenance when told of his enforced conversion to Christianity, and, 
to crown all, the fine mixture of scorn and pity with which he turned 
and surveyed the ribald Gratiano, all exhibited a succession of 
studies to which words fail to do justice.” — Hawkins: Life of Kean. 
399. tenmore: making twelve, the number of men on a jury. Vene¬ 
tian courts, however, had no juries. 406. gratify: recompense. 



THE MERCHANT OF VENICE [Act IV 


90 

Bass. Most worthy gentleman, I and my friend 
Have by your wisdom been this day acquitted 
Of grievous penalties; in lieu whereof, 4 10 

Three thousand ducats, due unto the Jew, 

We freely cope your courteous pains withal. 

Ant. And stand indebted, over and above, 

In love and service to you evermore. 

Por. He is well paid that is well satisfied; 

And I, delivering you, am satisfied 
And therein do account myself well paid: 

My mind was never yet more mercenary. 

I pray you, know me when we meet again: 

I wish you well, and so I take my leave. 420 

Bass. Dear sir, of force I must attempt you 
further: 

Take some remembrance of us, as a tribute, 

Not as a fee: grant me two things, I pray you, 

Not to deny me, and to pardon me. 

Por. You press me far, and therefore I will 
yield. 

[To Ant.\ Give me your gloves, I’ll wear them for 
your sake: 

[To Bass.] And, for your love, I’ll take this ring 
from you: 

Do not draw back your hand; I’ll take no more; 

And you in love shall not deny me this. 

Bass. This ring, good sir, alas, it is a trifle! 430 

I will not shame myself to give you this. 

Por. I will have nothing else but only this; 

And now methinks I have a mind to it. 

Bass. There’s more depends on this than on the 
value. 

The dearest ring in Venice will I give you, 

Line 412. cope: reward. 421. of force: necessarily. 434. The 
second on may be a misprint. 



Scene 2] THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 


91 


And find it out by proclamation: 

Only for this, I pray you, pardon me. 

Por. I see, sir, you are liberal in offers: 

You taught me first to beg; and now methinks 
You teach me how a beggar should be answer’d. 440 
Bass. Good sir, this ring was given me by my 
wife; 

And when she put it on, she made me vow 
That I should neither sell nor give nor lose it. 

Por. That ’scuse serves many men to save their 
gifts. 

An if your wife be not a mad-woman, 

And know how well I have deserved the ring, 

She would not hold out enemy for ever, 

For giving it to me. Well, peace be with you! 

[Exeunt Portia and Nerissa. 
Ant. My Lord Bassanio, let him have the ring: 

Let his deservings and my love withal 450 

Be valued ’gainst your wife’s commandment. 

Bass. Go, Gratiano, run and overtake him; 

Give him the ring, and bring him, if thou canst, 

Unto Antonio’s house: away! make haste. 

[Exit Gratiano. 

Come, you and I will thither presently; 

And in the morning early will we both 

Fly toward Belmont: come, Antonio. [Exeunt. 

Scene II — The same. A street 
Enter Portia and Nerissa 

Por. Inquire the Jew’s house out, give him this 
deed 

And let him sign it: we’ll away to-night 


Line 451. commandment. The old spelling was “commande- 
ment,” and the e was sounded. 



92 THE MERCHANT OF VENICE [Act IV 

And be a day before our husbands home: 

This deed will be well welcome to Lorenzo. 

Enter Gratiano 

Gra. Fair sir, you are well o’erta’en: 

My Lord Bassanio upon more advice 

Hath sent you here this ring, and doth entreat 

Your company at dinner. 

For. That cannot be: 

His ring I do accept most thankfully: 

And so, I pray you, tell him: furthermore, io 

I pray you, show my youth old Shylock’s house. 

Gra. That will I do. 

Ner. Sir, I would speak with you. 

[Aside to Por.] I’ll see if I can get my husband’s 
ring, 

Which I did make him swear to keep for ever. 

Por. [Aside to Ner .] Thou mayst, I warrant. 

We shall have old swearing 

That they did give the rings away to men; 

But we’ll outface them, and outswear them too. 

[Aloud] Away! make haste: thou know’st where I 
will tarry. 

Ner. Come, good sir, will you show me to .this 20 
house? [Exeunt. 


Line 6. advice: reflection. 15. old. Used colloquially, as in 
“a high old time.” 



Scene i] THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 


93 


ACT V 

Scene I — Belmont. Avenue to Portia’s house 
Enter Lorenzo and Jessica 

Lor. The moon shines bright: in such a night as 
this, 

When the sweet wind did gently kiss the trees 
And they did make no noise, in such a night 
Troilus methinks mounted the Troyan walls 
And sigh’d his soul toward the Grecian tents, 

Where Cressid lay that night. 

Jes. In such a night 

Did Thisbe fearfully o’ertrip the dew 
And saw the lion’s shadow ere himself, 

And ran dismay’d away. 

Lor. In such a night 

Stood Dido with a willow in her hand io 

Upon the wild sea banks, and waft her love 
To come again to Carthage. 

Jes. In such a night 

Medea gather’d the enchanted herbs 
That did renew old ^Eson. 

Lor. In such a night 

Did Jessica steal from the wealthy Jew 
And with an unthrift love did run from Venice 
As far as Belmont. 


Lorenzo and Jessica are walking in the avenue that leads to 
Portia’s villa. Behind them a flight of steps ascends to an Ionic 
portico. On either side statues and fountains gleam white in 
the moonlight, interspersed with blooming shrubs and flowery 
banks. Occasionally a cloud moves across the sky, hiding the moon. 

Line 4. Troilus. The references here, though classical, are 
probably to Chaucer. Hunter pictures Shakespeare writing 
this dialogue with an old folio of Chaucer lying open before 
him. First he glances at the Troilus and Criseyde, and then, turn¬ 
ing the leaves of The Legend of Good Women, he comes upon the 
stories of Thisbe, Dido, and Medea. 11. waft: wafted. 



94 


THE MERCHANT OF VENICE [Act Y 


Jes. In such a night 

Did young Lorenzo swear he loved her well, 

Stealing her soul with many vows of faith 
And ne’er a true one. 

Lor. In such a night 20 

Did pretty Jessica, like a little shrew, 

Slander her love, and he forgave it her. 

Jes. I would out-night you, did no body come; 

But, hark, I hear the footing of a man. 

Enter Stephano 

Lor. Who comes so fast in silence of the night? 

Steph. A friend. 

Lor. A friend! what friend? your name, I pray 
you, friend? 

Steph. Stephano is my name; and I bring word 
My mistress will before the break of day 
Be here at Belmont: she doth stray about 30 

By holy crosses, where she kneels and prays 
For happy wedlock hours. 

Lor. Who comes with her? 

Steph. None but a holy hermit and her maid. 

I pray you, is my master yet return’d? 

Lor. He is not, nor we have not heard from him. 
But go we in, I pray thee, Jessica, 

And ceremoniously let us prepare 

Some welcome for the mistress of the house. 

Enter Launcelot 

Laun. Sola, sola! wo ha, ho! sola, sola! 

Lor. Who calls? 40 


Line 28. Stephano, pronounced Ste-phah-no. 39. sola. 
Launcelot is imitating the horn by which the “post” or messen¬ 
ger announced his approach. According to Ben Greet’s stage 
directions, he runs around smacking his whip and jumping. He 
carries a lantern to indicate night. 



Scene i] THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 


95 


Laun. Sola! did you see Master Lorenzo? 

Master Lorenzo, sola, sola! 

Lor. Leave hollaing, man: here. 

Laun. Sola! where? where? 

Lor. Here. 

Laun. Tell him there’s a post come from my 
master, with his horn full of good news: my master 
will be here ere morning. [Exit. 

Lor. Sweet soul, let’s in, and there expect their 
coming. 

And yet no matter: why should we go in? 50 

My friend Stephano, signify, I pray you, 

Within the house, your mistress is at hand; 

And bring your music forth into the air. [Exit Stephano. 
How sweet the moonlight sleeps upon this bank! 

Here will we sit and let the sounds of music 
Creep in our ears: soft stillness and the night 
Become the touches of sweet harmony. 

Sit, Jessica. Look how the floor of heaven 
Is thick inlaid with patines of bright gold: 

There’s not the smallest orb which thou behold’st 60 
But in his motion like an angel sings, 

Still quiring to the young-eyed cherubins; 

Such harmony is in immortal souls; 

But whilst this muddy vesture of decay 
Doth grossly close us in, we cannot hear it. 

Enter Musicians 

Come, ho! and wake Diana with a hymn: 

With sweetest touches pierce your mistress’ ear 
And draw her home wit h music. _ [Music. 

Line 49. expect: await. 59. patines: small gold plates used 
in the Holy Communion. 60-65. This passage may refer to Job 
xxxviii, 7: “When the morning stars sang together,” or to the old 
belief in the “music of the spheres,” too delicate for human ears 
to hear. 62. Still: always. 62. “Cherubins” is the French form 
for cherubim. 66. wake Diana. Diana, the moon, has covered her 
face with a cloud while Lorenzo has been observing the stars. 





96 THE MERCHANT OF VENICE [Act V 

Jes. I am never merry when I hear sweet music. 

Lor. The reason is, your spirits are attentive: 70 

For do but note a wild and wanton herd, 

Or race of youthful and unhandled colts, 

Fetching mad bounds, bellowing and neighing loud, 
Which is the hot condition of their blood; 

If they but hear perchance a trumpet sound, 

Or any air of music touch their ears, 

You shall perceive them make a mutual stand, 

Their savage eyes turn’d to a modest gaze 
By the sweet power of music: therefore the poet 
Did feign that Orpheus drew trees, stones and floods; 80 
Since nought so stockish, hard and full of rage, 

But music for the time doth change his nature. 

The man that hath no music in himself, 

Nor is not moved with concord of sweet sounds, 

Is fit for treasons, stratagems and spoils; 

The motions of his spirit are dull as night 
And his affections dark as Erebus: 

Let no such man be trusted. Mark the music. 

Enter Portia and Nerissa 

For. That light we see is burning in my hall. 

How far that little candle throws his beams! 90 

So shines a good deed in a naughty world. 

Ner. When the moon shone, we did not see the 
candle. 

For. So doth the greater glory dim the less: 

A substitute shines brightly as a king 
Until a king be by, and then his state 

Line 79. poet. Probably refers to Ovid. 87. Erebus: under¬ 
world. 89. “Portia is still full of the strong emotion roused in 
her by the trial; on her way home she has talked with the hermit, 
and prayed at wayside crosses. For a while her reflections are 
grave and serious. She stands above Jessica and Lorenzo and 
talks softly to Nerissa, while the music plays.” — Arden Edition. 

91. naughty: evil, bad. 




Scene i] THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 


97 


Empties itself, as doth an inland brook 
Into the main of waters. Music! hark! 

JVer. It is your music, madam, of the house. 

Por. Nothing is good, I see, without respect: 
Methinks it sounds much sweeter than by day. ioo 

JVer. Silence bestows that virtue on it, madam. 

Por. The crow doth sing as sweetly as the lark 
When neither is attended, and I think 
The nightingale, if she should sing by day, 

When every goose is cackling, would be thought 
No better a musician than the wren. 

How many things by season season’d are 
To their right praise and true perfection! 

Peace, ho! the moon sleeps with Endymion 

And would not be awaked. [Music ceases. 

Lor. That is the voice, no 

Or I am much deceived, of Portia. 

Por. He knows me as the blind man knows the 
cuckoo, 

By the bad voice. 

Lor. Dear lady, welcome home. 

Por. We have been praying for our husbands’ 
healths, 

Which speed, we hope, the better for our words. 

Are they return’d? 

Lor. Madam, they are not yet; 

But there is come a messenger before, 

To signify their coming. 

Por. Go in, Nerissa; 

Give order to my servants that they take 

No note at all of our being absent hence; 120 

Nor you, Lorenzo; Jessica, nor you. [A tucket sounds. 

Line 99. respect (to circumstance). 109. The story was that 

each night Diana kissed the young shepherd, Endymion, as he 
lay asleep on Mt. Latmos. 121. tucket: flourish on a trumpet. 
(Italian toccata.) 



98 


THE MERCHANT OF VENICE [Act V 


Lor. Your husband is at hand; I hear his trumpet: 
We are no tell-tales, madam; fear you not. 

Por. This night me thinks is but the daylight sick: 

It looks a little paler: ’tis a day, 

Such as the day is when the sun is hid. 

Enter Bassanio, Antonio, Gratiano, and their 
followers 

Bass. We should hold day with the Antipodes, 

If you would walk in absence of the sun. 

Por. Let me give light, but let me not be light; 

For a light wife doth make a heavy husband, 130 

And never be Bassanio so for me: 

But God sort all! You are welcome home, my lord. 
Bass. I thank you, madam. Give welcome to my 
friend. 

This is the man, this is Antonio, 

To whom I am so infinitely bound. 

Por. You should in all sense be much bound to 
him, 

For, as I hear, he was much bound for you. 

Ant. No more than I am well acquitted of. 

Por. Sir, you are very welcome to our house: 

It must appear in other ways than words, 140 

Therefore I scant this breathing courtesy. 

Gra. [To JVer.] By yonder moon I swear you do me 
wrong; 

In faith, I gave it to the judge’s clerk. 

Por. A quarrel, ho, already! what’s the matter? 

Gra. About a hoop of gold, a paltry ring 
That she did give me, whose posy was 
For all the world like cutler’s poetry 
Upon a knife, “Love me, and leave me not.” 150 


Line 127. hold day with the Antipodes: have daylight at night. 
32. sort: dispose. 148. posy: sentiment inscribed inside a ring. 



Scene i] THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 


99 


Ner. What talk you of the posy or the value? 

You swore to me, when I did give it you, 

That you would wear it till your hour of death 
And that it should lie with you in your grave: 

Though not for me, yet for your vehement oaths, 

You should have been respective and have kept it. 

Gave it a judge’s clerk! no, God’s my judge, 

The clerk will ne’er wear hair on’s face that had it. 

Gra. He will, and if he live to be a man. 

Ner. Ay, if a woman live to be a man. 160 

Gra. Now, by this hand, I gave it to a youth, 

A kind of boy, a little scrubbed boy, 

No higher than thyself, the judge’s clerk, 

A prating boy, that begg’d it as a fee: 

I could not for my heart deny it him. 

Por. You were to blame, I must be plain with 
you, 

To part so slightly with your wife’s first gift; 

A thing stuck on with oaths upon your finger 
And riveted with faith unto your flesh. 

I gave my love a ring and made him swear 170 

Never to part with it; and here he stands; 

I dare be sworn for him he would not leave it 
Nor pluck it from his finger, for the wealth 
That the world masters. Now, in faith, Gratiano, 

You give your wife too unkind a cause of grief: 

An ’twere to me, I should be mad at it. 

Bass. [Aside] Why, I were best to cut my left hand 
off 

And swear I lost the ring defending it. 

Gra. My Lord Bassanio gave his ring away 
Unto the judge that begg’d it and indeed 180 

Line 156. respective: mindful. 162. scrubbed: as in scrub oak. 
“Gratiano measures the height of the ‘boy’ each time, emphasiz¬ 
ing the word.” — Ben Greet, 



IOO 


THE MERCHANT OF VENICE [Act V 


Deserved it too; and then the boy, his clerk, 

That took some pains in writing, he begg’d mine; 

And neither man nor master would take aught 
But the two rings. 

Por. What ring gave you, my lord? 

Not that, I hope, which you received of me. 

Bass. If I could add a lie unto a fault, 

I would deny it; but you see my finger 
Hath not the ring upon it; it is gone. 

Por. Even so void is your false heart of truth. 

Bass. Sweet Portia, 192 

If you did know to whom I gave the ring, 

If you did know for whom I gave the ring, 

And would conceive for what I gave the ring 
And how unwillingly I left the ring, 

When nought would be accepted but the ring, 

You would abate the strength of your displeasure. 

Por. If you had known the virtue of the ring, 

Or half her worthiness that gave the ring, 200 

Or your own honour to contain the ring, 

You would not then have parted with the ring. 

What man is there so much unreasonable, 

If you had pleased to have defended it 
With any terms of zeal, wanted the modesty 
To urge the thing held as a ceremony? 

Nerissa teaches me what to believe: 

I’ll die for’t but some woman had the ring. 

Bass. No, by my honour, madam, by my soul, 

No woman had it, but a civil doctor, 210 

Which did refuse three thousand ducats of me 
And begg’d the ring; the which I did deny him 
And suffer’d him to go displeased away; 

Even he that did uphold the very life 


Line 201. contain: retain. 205. wanted the modesty: as to have 
lacked the moderation. 210. civil doctor ; doctor of civil law. 



Scene i] THE MERCHANT OF VENICE ioi 

Of my dear friend. What should I say, sweet lady? 

I was enforced to send it after him; 

I was beset with shame and courtesy; 

My honour would not let ingratitude 
So much besmear it. Pardon me, good lady; 

For, by these blessed candles of the night, 220 

Had you been there, I think you would have begg’d 
The ring of me to give the worthy doctor. 

Por . Let not that doctor e’er come near my house: 
Since he hath got the jewel that I loved, 

And that which you did swear to keep for me, 

I will become as liberal as you; 

I’ll not deny him anything I have. 

Ant. I am the unhappy subject of these quarrels. 
Por. Sir, grieve not you; you are welcome not¬ 
withstanding. 

Bass. Portia, forgive me this enforced wrong; 240 
And, in the hearing of these many friends, 

I swear to thee, even by thine own fair eyes, 

Wherein I see myself— 

Por. Mark you but that! 

In both my eyes he doubly sees himself; 

In each eye, one: swear by your double self, 

And there’s an oath of credit. 

Bass. Nay, but hear me: 

Pardon this fault, and by my soul I swear 
I never more will break an oath with thee. 

Ant. I once did lend my body for his wealth; 

Which, but for him that had your husband’s ring, 250 
Had quite miscarried: I dare be bound again, 

My soul upon the forfeit, that your lord 
Will never more break faith advisedly. 

Line 220. candles of the night: stars. 238. “Antonio has pa¬ 
tiently remained, mildly protesting and somewhat amused. 
Possibly he is glad he is not married.” — Ben Greet. 



102 THE MERCHANT OF VENICE [Act V 

For. Then you shall be his surety. Give him this 
And bid him keep it better than the other. 

Ant. Here, Lord Bassanio; swear to keep this ring. 
Bass. By heaven, it is the same I gave the doctor! 
For. I had it of him. You are all amaz’d: 

Here is a letter; read it at your leisure; 

It comes from Padua, from Bellario: 

There you shall find that Portia was the doctor, 

Nerissa there her clerk: Lorenzo here 270 

Shall witness I set forth as soon as you 
And even but now return’d; I have not yet 
Enter’d my house. Antonio, you are welcome; 

And I have better news in store for you 
Than you expect: unseal this letter soon; 

There you shall find three of your argosies 
Are richly come to harbour suddenly: 

You shall not know by what strange accident 
I chanced on this letter. 

Ant. I am dumb. 

Bass. Were you the doctor and I knew you not? 280 
Ant. Sweet lady, you have given me life and 
living; 

For here I read for certain that my ships 
Are safely come to road. 

For. How now, Lorenzo! 

My clerk hath some good comforts too for you. 

Ner. Ay, and I’ll give them him without a fee. 290 
There do I give to you and Jessica, 

From the rich Jew, a special deed of gift, 

After his death, of all he dies possess’d of. 

Lor. Fair ladies, you drop manna in the way 
Of starved people. 

For. It is almost morning, 

And yet I am sure you are not satisfied 


Line 286. living: means of livelihood. 



Scene i] THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 


103 


Of these events at full. Let us go in; 

And charge us there upon inter’gatories, 

And we will answer all things faithfully. 

Gra. Well, while I live I’ll fear no other thing 306 
So sore as keeping safe Nerissa’s ring. [Exeunt. 


Line 298. inter’gatories. In the Court of Queen’s Bench, wit¬ 
nesses “charged upon interrogatories” must swear to speak the 
whole truth. Portia suggests changing places, she and Nerissa 
becoming the witnesses and their husbands the examiners. 

“In conclusion, when Portia invites her company to enter her 
palace to refresh themselves after their travels, and talk over 
‘these events at full,’ the imagination, unwilling to lose sight of 
the brilliant group, follows them in gay procession from the 
lovely moonlit garden to marble halls and princely revels, to 
splendour and festive mirth, to love and happiness.” — Anna 
Jameson: Shakespeare’s Heroines. 






APPENDIX 


i. Summary of the Play by Acts. 

As the structure of The Merchant of Venice is particularly in¬ 
teresting, the following summary is given to help the student 
follow the development of the plot more understandingly through 
the different acts. 

In the first scene of Act I, the hero, Bassanio, borrows three 
thousand ducats of Antonio, merchant of Venice, so that he can 
fit himself out to pay court to the heiress, Portia. The second 
scene introduces Portia, mistress of Belmont, who, according to 
her father’s will, can be won only by the choice from among three 
caskets of the one containing her portrait. Despite the fact that 
unsuccessful candidates are debarred from ever again wooing “a 
maid by way of marriage,” she is beset with suitors, and there 
seems to be some danger that one of them will choose the right 
casket before Bassanio can get to Belmont to try his luck. Before 
the end' of the act, he is evidently in danger also of causing the 
death of his friend, for Antonio, not having the required three 
thousand ducats at hand, gives a “playful bond” to Shylock 
the Jew, contracting to forfeit a pound of his own flesh if he 
does not redeem the bond within three months. 

Act II, bringing in new characters and incidents of absorbing 
interest, distracts attention from the improbability that so long a 
time as three months could possibly elapse before Bassanio would 
reach Belmont. With so much going on — the appearance of 
the Gobbos, Bassanio’s farewell supper party, Jessica’s elope¬ 
ment, the rumor that one of Antonio’s ships has been lost at sea, 
the arrival and departure of Portia’s unsuccessful suitors, and 
Shylock’s rage at the loss of his daughter, his jewels, and his 
ducats — no one thinks of time. 

Act III first confirms our fears that Bassanio is going to be 
responsible for Antonio’s death, and then, with dramatic con¬ 
trast, shows him, flushed with success, winning Portia by choosing 
the leaden casket. This is the turning point, or climax, of the 
action. In the midst of his triumph, Lorenzo and Jessica, now 
married, bring him the news that Antonio’s situation is desperate; 

105 


io6 


APPENDIX 


and after the double wedding — Bassanio and Portia, Gratiano 
and Nerissa, — both he and Gratiano prepare to go to the assist¬ 
ance of their friend. But before they start, Portia and Nerissa 
give them the rings which are to provide much of the material 
of the last act, binding them by a solemn promise never to part 
with these gifts of love. The act ends with Antonio in the hands 
of a jailer, Shylock refusing all pleas for mercy, and Portia pre¬ 
paring to set out for Venice, disguised as a lawyer, to defend 
her husband’s friend. 

Act IV begins with the Trial Scene, in which Shylock takes 
his stand on the letter of the law and demands his bond. He 
refuses Bassanio’s offer of twice, even thrice, the amount, and re¬ 
plies to the Doge’s plea for mercy by the specious argument that 
he has bought this pound of flesh and has the same right to it 
that Venetians have to the human flesh they buy in the slave 
market. Portia now appears in place of the famous Dr. Bellario 
to whom the Doge had referred the case, and having heard the 
evidence, made one more futile plea for mercy and been accepted 
as judge by both parties to the suit, she decrees that the Jew may 
have the flesh but not one drop of blood. Aghast, Shylock 
would reconsider his refusal and take his money, but she will not 
allow it; and she pronounces him guilty under an old law of 
Venice which condemned to death and confiscation any alien 
who practised against the life of a citizen. He is, however, offered 
the boon of life and the return of half his goods on condition that 
he make a will in favor of his daughter and become a Christian. 
He consents, leaving the court a broken and defeated man. 

At this point the episode of the rings relieves a situation too 
tense for comedy. Bassanio, offering the young judge a fee, is 
met by a refusal to accept anything but the ring his wife gave 
him. At first he refuses to give it up and the disguised lady 
leaves the court in apparent dudgeon. But at last, charged with 
ingratitude, he sends it after her by Gratiano; and Gratiano him¬ 
self is coaxed into giving his own ring to Nerissa as the judge’s 
clerk. 

Act V opens upon a delightful scene in which romantic love, 
“touches of sweet harmony,” and a background of Italian land¬ 
scape gardening combine to enchant and soothe after the excite¬ 
ment of the last act. Lorenzo and Jessica, taking sweet counsel 
together in the moonlight outside the villa at Belmont, are inter¬ 
rupted by Portia’s return from Venice with Nerissa, followed 
closely by Bassanio, Gratiano, and Antonio. The two husbands 
have great difficulty in excusing the loss of their rings to their 


DRAMATIC PRESENTATION 


107 


offended wives, but at last all is explained and forgiven. The 
play comes to a merry conclusion with the announcement that 
Antonio’s ships have come safely to harbor, and that Lorenzo 
and Jessica have been provided for in Shylock’s will. 

2. Suggestions for Dramatic Presentation. 

Acting a play is always the best way to study it, and this is 
especially true of a Shakespearian play, in which so many pas¬ 
sages are worth memorizing and so many characters worthy of 
careful study. An attempt to impersonate a character or to 
render lines with the proper dramatic effect leads to a far deeper 
and truer understanding than a mere reading can possibly give. 

If it is too great a task to present The Merchant of Venice entire, 
a class will gain much pleasure and profit by acting at least some 
of the scenes from it. They may do them as simply as they like, 
— even on a classroom platform if nothing better offers; but 
some kind of stage should be available in almost any school and 
the weekly assembly will always furnish an audience. 

A setting of dark gray curtains or screens makes an excellent 
and simple background for the brilliant costumes, especially if 
the hall can be darkened and colored lights thrown on them. 
A few chairs, dark and solid, a table for the court room, flowers 
and a bit of statuary for the garden, vary the scene sufficiently; 
and automobile lights with colored plates produce delightful 
lighting effects. 

Elizabethan costumes, — high plaited ruffs and wide skirts 
for the women, and knee breeches, capes or jackets with full 
slashed sleeves and plumed hats for the men, are easily copied 
from pictures, the Jewish gaberdine even more easily, and two 
scholars’ gowns for the Trial Scene can always be borrowed. 
Crape paper, especially the satin kind, is quite satisfactory for 
parts of costumes that cannot be arranged from material at hand. 
It can be sewn on old cloth where a strain will come on it, and 
is to be had in rich colors. A costume committee, present at 
some of the rehearsals, will enjoy attending to such matters. 

Either a single scene or a playlet made up of several scenes 
may be given. A delightful playlet, based on the Casket Scene, 
consists of Act I, scene 2; Act II, scenes 1, 7> an d 9 > an< ^ Act 
scene 2 as far as Bassanio’s “But who comes here?” when a 
wedding march should break in loudly, appearing to drown out 
further speech; supers dressed as members of Portia’s household 
should come on, and a bustle of congratulations in dumb show 


io8 


APPENDIX 


and laughter, or, if preferred, a dance, end the scene. The 
princes of Morocco and Arragon should have attendants, and it 
is effective to herald their arrival and departure by a blare of 
trumpets. 

The Trial Scene has always been a favorite with amateurs. It 
plays a little over half an hour, and may be both lengthened and 
improved by putting in before it the first and third scenes of 
Act I. Roy Mitchell (. Shakespeare for Community Players) gives 
some excellent suggestions for the arrangement: 

“In the Trial Scene, the buffer figure of Portia is the fulcrum 
of a lever, and appropriately enough the design on further 
elaboration becomes a living pair of scales. On one end of the 
beam is Antonio with his friends; on the other, Shy lock, friend¬ 
less, but supported by the officers of the law, whose force he uses. 
Between the two groups is Portia, and above all the Duke and 
the Magnificoes; the Duke higher than the rest, not only topping 
the design but making a support for the pendant scale figure.” 

If the whole play is to be given, it will be wise to consult 
Shakespeare for Community Players, by Mitchell, and also the Ben 
Greet edition of The Merchant of Venice, which gives professional 
stage business. 


3. Memorable Passages. 

Nature hath framed strange fellows in her time. — I. 1. 

I hold the world but as the world, Gratiano; 

A stage where every man must play a part, 

And mine a sad one. — I. 1. 

I am Sir Oracle, 

And when I ope my lips let no dog bark! — I. 1. 

Gratiano speaks an infinite deal of nothing, more than any 
man in all Venice. His reasons are as two grains of wheat hid 
in two bushels of chaff: you shall seek all day ere you find them, 
and when you have them, they are not worth the search. — I. 1. 

They are as sick that surfeit with too much, as they that starve 
with nothing. — I. a. 

If to do were as easy as to know what were good to do, chapels 
had been churches, and poor men’s cottages princes’ palaces. 
— I. 2. 


MEMORABLE PASSAGES 


109 

It is a good divine that follows his own instructions: I can 
easier teach twenty what were good to be done, than be one of 
the twenty to follow mine own teaching. — I. 2. 

The devil can cite Scripture for his purpose. — I. 3. 

O, what a goodly outside falsehood hath! —>1.3. 

I like not fair terms and a villain’s mind. — I. 3. 

It is a wise father that knows his own child. — II. 2. 

For lovers ever run before the clock. — II. 6. 

Who riseth from a feast 
With that keen appetite that he sits down? 

Where is the horse that doth untread again 
His tedious measures with the unbated fire 
That he did pace them first? All things that are, 

Are with more spirit chased than enjoy’d. — II. 6. 

But love is blind, and lovers cannot see 

The pretty follies that themselves commit. — II. 6. 

All that glisters is not gold. — II. 7. 

Let none presume 
To wear an undeserved dignity. 

O, that estates, degrees and offices 

Were not derived corruptly, and that clear honour 

Were purchased by the merit of the wearer! 

How many then should cover that stand bare! 

How many be commanded that command! — II. 9. 

A day in April never came so sweet, 

To show how costly summer was at hand. — II. 9. 

Hath not a Jew eyes? hath not a Jew hands? — III. 1. 

The villany you teach me, I will execute, and it shall go hard 
but I will better the instruction. — III. 1. 

Tell me where is fancy bred, 

Or in the heart or in the head? 

Reply, reply. 

It is engender’d in the eyes, 

With gazing fed; and fancy dies 
In the cradle where it lies. 

Let us all ring fancy’s knell; 


no 


APPENDIX 


For in companions 

That do converse and waste the time together, 

Whose souls do bear an equal yoke of love, 

There must be needs a like proportion 
Of lineaments, of manners, and of spirit. — III. 4. 

What, wouldst thou have a serpent sting thee twice? — IV. 

You may as well go stand upon the beach 
And bid the main flood bate his usual height; 

You may as well use question with the wolf 
Why he hath made the ewe bleat for the lamb; 

You may as well forbid the mountain pines 
To wag their high tops and to make no noise 
When they are fretten with the gusts of heaven; 

You may as well do any thing most hard, 

As seek to soften that — than which what’s harder? — 
His Jewish heart. — IV. 1. 

The quality of mercy is not strain’d, 

It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven 
Upon the place beneath: it is twice blest; 

It blesseth him that gives and him that takes: 

’Tis mightiest in the mightiest: it becomes 
The throned monarch better than his crown; 

His sceptre shows the force of temporal power, 

The attribute to awe and majesty, 

Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings; 

But mercy is above this sceptred sway; 

It is enthroned in the hearts of kings, 

It is an attribute to God himself; 

And earthly power doth then show likest God’s 
When mercy seasons justice. — IV. 1. 

A Daniel come to judgement! Yea, a Daniel! — IV. 1. 

The moon shines bright: in such a night as this, 
When the sweet wind did gently kiss the trees 
And they did make no noise, in such a night 
Troilus methinks mounted the Troyan walls 
And sigh’d his soul toward the Grecian tents, 

Where Cressid lay that night. — V. 1. 

How sweet the moonlight sleeps upon this bank! 

Here will we sit and let the sounds of music 
Creep in our ears: soft stillness and the night 
Become the touches of sweet harmony. 

Sit, Jessica. Look how the floor of heaven 
Is thick inlaid with patines of bright gold: 


MEMORABLE PASSAGES 


111 


There’s not the smallest orb which thou behold’st 
But in his motion like an angel sings, 

Still quiring to the young-eyed cherubins; 

Such harmony is in immortal souls. — V. i. 

The man that hath no music in himself, 

Nor is not moved with concord of sweet sounds, 

Is fit for treasons, stratagems and spoils. — V. i. 

How far that little candle throws his beams! 

So shines a good deed in a naughty world. — V. i. 









/ 




I 







QUESTIONS FOR CLASS DISCUSSION 


1. Let the pupils bring into the class any books they can find 
that have pictures of Venice in them and point out scenes that 
might be used to illustrate the play; canals, gondolas, streets in 
Venice, palaces or villas in which the characters might have 
lived. 

2. The local color in this play has led some critics to believe 
that Shakespeare must have visited Venice. Give as much 
evidence as possible to support this theory, noting lines in which 
he introduces (i) the language, (2) the manners and customs, 
(3) landmarks. 

3. Would you prefer The Merchant of Venice or The Jew of 
Venice as a title for this play? Discuss, using quotations to sup¬ 
port your points, how Antonio may be said to embody the ideal 
of a Venetian merchant of that day. 

4. Enumerate Shylock’s wrongs and troubles as we see them 
in the play, and discuss both the effect they would naturally 
have on his character and the light they throw on the position 
of a Jew in sixteenth-century Europe as one of a persecuted race 
and as a usurer. 

5. William Winter remarks that Shy lock has been represented 
by actors as either a martyr or a miscreant. Does either concep¬ 
tion seem to you correct? Explain. 

6. Shakespeare is said to give the keynote of his play in the 
first scene. How does Scene 1 suggest the mood of this play? 

7. Sum up Portia’s character in half a dozen adjectives; men¬ 
tion speeches or incidents that illustrate each. 

8. Compare the discussion of the suitors in I. 2 with a simi¬ 
lar scene in Two Gentlemen of Verona , I. 2, showing how Shake¬ 
speare has here improved on his earlier work both in matter and 
manner. 


”3 


APPENDIX 


114 


9. Go over carefully I. 2 and pick out speeches that show 
Portia’s quickness in repartee, her good sense, her lively spirits, 
her keen insight into character. The two girls are bubbling 
over with laughter; do we laugh with them or do we find them 
ill-naturedly sharp? 

10. Who was responsible for the peculiar device by which 
Portia must be won? What did the suitors have to promise to 
do if they chose the wrong casket? What was Nerissa’s comment 
on the situation? Do you agree with her that the suitor who 
chose the leaden casket might prove by his wise choice that he 
would make a good husband? What was the legend on each 
casket? The preachers of that day often used this old story about 
the caskets to illustrate sermons; what point do you suppose 
they were trying to make? 

11. What were the reasons given by each of the suitors for 
his choice of a casket? Sketch briefly the characters of the 
Prince of Morocco and the Prince of Arragon. 

12. Discuss Bassanio (1) as a lover, (2) as a friend, (3) as a 
man. 

13. Note the scenes in this play in which prose is used. Can 
you guess what influenced Shakespeare’s choice of prose for 
them? Where is a song introduced? 

14. Paraphrase the famous speech of Shylock, III. 1. 55-76. 

15. Give examples from this play of (1) obsolete words, 
(2) words used in a sense different from that of to-day, (3) un¬ 
usual words. 

16. Sketch briefly the characters of Lorenzo and Jessica and 
show how an Elizabethan audience would have been likely to 
regard their elopement. 

17. What are the two main threads of plot in The Merchant of 
Venice? Show how they are woven together. 

18. What minor plots are combined with the two principal 
ones? At what point in the action is each introduced? 

19. What is the situation at the end of the first act? What 
does the second act add to the plot? At what point do we find 
the climax or turning point? What thread of the plot is unraveled 
in Act III? In Act IV? In Act V? 


QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION 


ri 5 

20. Where does a masquerade occur in this play? Why is it 
especially suggestive of Venetian life? Explain the effectiveness 
of such scenes on the stage. Can you think of any in other Shake¬ 
spearian plays? 

21. Shakespeare quotes in As Tou Like It: “Whoever loved 
that loved not at first sight?” Can you illustrate this line from 
The Merchant of Venice? 

22. How is the Jessica story used to throw light on Shylock’s 
character and win sympathy for him? Quote passages to illus¬ 
trate your points. 

23. In I. 3. 43-52, what are the three reasons Shylock gives 
for seeking vengeance on Antonio? Cite other lines in the play 
that support his position on these three points. 

24. Discuss whether this lesson may properly be drawn from 
The Merchant of Venice: “Whatever the play may have meant in 
Shakespeare’s day, to-day it has become a plea for those who, 
isolated and looked down upon, cannot be expected to see and 
feel and act as other people may.” — F. G. Barker: Forty-minute 
Plays from Shakespeare. 

25. Name as many as you can of the means Shakespeare has 
used to bring out the evil in Shylock’s character, and show how 
he has managed to excite sympathy for him in spite of it. Do 
you think he intended to do this, or is the sympathy we feel due 
to the modern pity for the under dog? In your discussion, use 
what you know of the different ways in which the part of Shy- 
lock has been made up and acted. 

26. Follow step by step Portia’s conduct of the case of Shy- 
lock vs. Antonio, noting (1) her attitude towards him at the be¬ 
ginning, (2) at what point she ceases to plead with him and 
begins to prosecute him, (3) the different points she makes 
against him. 

27. Does Shakespeare suggest a side of Shylock’s character 
different from that he shows to his enemies? Are there hints in 
the play that he loved his wife? Was he fond of his daughter? 
Was he a consistent Jew in his religious observances? Had he 
friends? 

28. List the references Shylock makes to the Scriptures. 
What effect is gained by their introduction? 


APPENDIX 


116 

29. Comment on Shakespeare’s use of classical mythology and 
the sources from which he probably drew his knowledge of it. 

30. For some time before Henry Irving produced The Mer¬ 
chant of Venice it had been customary for stage managers to omit 
Act V. What do you think were his reasons for restoring it? 

31. How does the episode of the rings throw light on Portia’s 
character? Is there any other reason for introducing it? 

32. Write a theme on the poetry of the last act, treating the 
following topics: 

(1) Poetry of atmosphere — the setting Shakespeare gives the 
scene. 

(2) Poetry of situation — youth and love. 

(3) Poetry of expression. Dwell particularly on the last topic, 
noting beauty of imagery, figures of speech, and choice of words. 

33. In the Quartos Launcelot Gobbo is referred to as a 
“Clowne.” In what sense is this a good description of him? 
Does his humor consist mainly in what he does, in what he says, 
or in how he says it? Can you compare him with any other 
rustic in Shakespeare’s plays? 

34. As a study of different types of humor in this play, com¬ 
pare the humor of Portia, of Gratiano, and of Launcelot Gobbo. 

35. Comment on the character of Gratiano, treating the fol¬ 
lowing points: (1) Whether Bassanio is justified in saying that 
“his reasons are as two grains of wheat hid in two bushels of 
chaff.” (2) Bassanio’s comments on Gratiano’s character when 
he decides to take him to Belmont. (3) How Gratiano lives up 
to his promises. (4) The part he takes in the Trial Scene, ex¬ 
plaining why an Elizabethan audience would have enjoyed his 
taunts. (5) His wooing of Nerissa. (6) Sum up his character, 
showing how he enlivens the play. 

36. What scene in the play do you find the most (1) humor¬ 
ous; (2) entertaining; (3) tragic; (4) poetic? Discuss each at 
some length, giving reasons for your preference. 

37. Let different students look up and explain to the class 
more fully than they are explained in the notes the following 
allusions: 

(1) “A Daniel come to judgment.” 

(2) “Cato’s daughter, Brutus’ Portia.” 


QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION 


117 


(3) “Which makes her seat of Belmont Colchos’ strand, 

And many Jasons come in quest of her.” 

In what other play is a similar allusion found? 

(4) “Troilus methinks mounted the Troyan walls.” 

(5) “Did Thisbe fearfully o’ertrip the dew.” 

(6) “Stood Dido with a willow in her hand.” 

(7) “Medea gathered the enchanted herbs.” 

38. On what occasions does Shakespeare introduce instru¬ 
mental music? Vocal music? Is there dramatic reason for the 
choice of one or the other? What is said of “the man that hath 
no music in himself”? What is the theory of the “music of the 
spheres” mentioned in this play? 

39. List ten instances where “of” is used with verbs that now 
take other prepositions or none. 

40. Write a brief outline of Shylock’s life, as for a biographical 
dictionary, supplying probable data where no information is 
given in the play. 

41. Write an imaginary sketch of Portia’s life up to the time 
of her marriage, touching upon her early intellectual and reli¬ 
gious training, her life at Belmont, the companionship of Nerissa, 
her probable part in Venetian gaieties, her first sight of Bas- 
sanio, her father’s death, the conditions of his will, her many 
suitors, the coming of Bassanio, her fears lest he choose the wrong 
casket, and the final happy outcome. Write it as if it were a 
short story in a magazine, making it as entertaining as possible. 

42. Make a careful study of the entrances and exits in 
II. 5-6; III. 2; IV. 1, and with this in mind discuss Sir Henry 
Irving’s statement: “No actor ever had reason to complain that 
Shakespeare sent him tamely off (the stage) or brought him 
feebly on.” 

43. If any pupils have seen The Merchant of Venice, let them 
give as full an account as possible of the (1) stage setting, (2) cos¬ 
tumes, (3) mechanical effects, (4) music, (5) the relative positions 
of the important characters in the Trial Scene. 

44. Repeat as many as you can of the “Memorable Passages,” 
telling in each case who speaks the lines, to whom they are ad¬ 
dressed, and under what circumstances. 


118 


APPENDIX 


BOOKS OF SPECIAL INTEREST 

Furness, H. H., ed., The Merchant of Venice (Variorum edition). 
Hudson, H. N., Shakespeare , His Life , Art, and Characters. 

Lee, Sidney, Life of William Shakespeare. 

Mitchell, Roy, Shakespeare for Community Players. 

Moulton, R. G., Shakespeare as a Dramatic Artist. 

Oliphant, M. O., Makers of Venice. 

Tappan, E. M., In the Days of Queen Elizabeth. 

Thayer, W. R., The Story of Venice. 

Thorndike, A. H., Shakespeare's Theatre. 

Ward, A. W., History of English Dramatic Literature. 

Wendell, Barrett, William Shakspere. 

Winter, William, Shakespeare on the Stage, Vol. I. 

























































































I 
















MAR 7 


1931 



























































